Somehow, Someday
by Marj
Summary: The goddesses were leading what one could consider their normal lives until a call from the Almighty forced Skuld to go home. Sentaro was upset that she was leaving, until a wrong number and a visit from the fourth goddess granted his wish...
1. Precious Moments

Disclaimer:  
Ah! Megami-sama belongs to Kosuke Fujishima and all the other companies that own copyrights to the manga/anime. None of this, except this fic, belongs to me.  
  
Author's Notes:  
I really had no intentions of uploading this fic, but since it's just sitting around in my computer for two years just waiting to be finished, and since a number of you who had written to me personally were asking me to write another one (thank you so much!!), I finally decided to upload it as a way of thanks. Unfortunately, my editors are either away or are quite busy right now, so this fic is currently not checked for any grammatical or spelling errors. I'll see if I can upload a revised, edited form of this fic in the future, but I cannot give you any guarantees.  
  
Anyway, this fic may or may not have anything to do with the first one I wrote – I've yet to decide on that. But it's another Skuld-Sentaro fic, and I hope that you will enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it.  
  
  
  
CHAPTER ONE: PRECIOUS MOMENTS  
  
A boy walked slowly up the long stairs that led to the open door of a temple, pulling his bicycle up with him. Upon reaching the top, his deep brown eyes were greeted by the sight of a very young looking girl on jet-powered skates . . . who seemed like she was barging towards him!  
  
"Out of the way!!" the girl warned as she approached him. Kawanishi Sentaro jumped out of her path just in time, dropping his bicycle just as she zoomed past him.   
  
Staring at the girl's retreating back, Sentaro was about to continue on towards the house beside the temple when a weird looking robot stopped short right in front of him and caught his attention. It scrutinized him for a moment before removing a red hat from its round metallic face and leaning forward in a gesture of welcome.  
  
"Konnichiwa, Banpei-kun! Chasing Sigel again?" Sentaro asked, tilting his head and giving the robot a lop-sided grin.  
  
Banpei RX started moving its head up and down in response to his question.  
  
Sentaro once again stepped aside, letting the robot through. "Well, don't let me stop you!" he said, the grin still on his face. "Oh, by the way. Do you know where - ?"  
  
His next question was cut abruptly as the robot moved past him as well.  
  
Sentaro shook his head. It still amazed him to think that those two – both of which were actually just robots created by a 12 year old girl – could actually act so human. They even looked like they had feelings, especially with Sigel acting like a bratty little girl. [ Just like her creator, ] Sentaro thought to himself, and chuckled.  
  
Picking up his bicycle from the ground, he leaned it against a huge rock near the temple's shed and made his way towards the house. "Konnichiwa!" he called out as he got inside, pausing by the shoji and waiting for an answer.  
  
Which was a loud boom emanating from one of the rooms.  
  
Sentaro cringed. He knew the blast probably came from Urd's room. Skuld, his best friend, said something about her oldest sister having the habit of mixing potions together. In his mind, Urd had the occupation of a scientist, and the constant explosions were combustive chemicals that were habitually being mixed together.  
  
After a few commotions that resulted from the blast, with words being shouted around the house (he distinctly heard somebody – most likely Urd – saying something like "Damn it, Skuld!! That boyfriend of yours disturbed my concentration!" and a comeback, "Yurusaiwa ne! He's not my boyfriend!"), a beautiful young woman with gentle blue eyes and long brown hair pulled back in a simple yet elegant ponytail appeared, greeting him with a happy smile. "Konnichiwa, Sentaro-kun! Come in! I'll get Skuld for you," she said, taking him to the living/dining room after he took off his shoes.  
  
"Arigatou, Belldandy onee-sama," Sentaro said politely, sitting down on the tatami mat next to the table. Belldandy smiled at him once more before leaving the room to get her little sister.  
  
A few seconds later, another woman passed by the hallway. This time she had long, slightly wavy pallid hair and sharp, almost seductive green eyes. Despite the fact that she was wearing less than modest clothes, she looked pretty much dishelved and amusing as a result of the earlier explosion, and was well on her way to the bathroom when she just happened to glance at the living room and saw their visitor for the day.  
  
"Ah, Sentaro-kun! How's my baby sister's manly man today?" she asked in a voice that never failed to make him nervous, as she went behind him and wrapped her bronze-colored arms around his shoulders. He blushed.  
  
"Get your filthy hands away from him, Urd! And get out of here and wash yourself – you're a mess!" a young adolescent of about Sentaro's age said as she entered, her long jet-black hair flowing gracefully behind her as she walked in with a huff, her wide, innocent looking brown eyes looking not so innocent as they glared at her oldest sister.  
  
Urd coyly stared at her little sister. "What? Afraid that I would take him away from you?"  
  
Skuld, looking even more less than amused, shouted "Onee-sama!!!"  
  
At that moment, Belldandy arrived carrying six glasses of tea and six slices of homemade cake. Right behind her was Morisato Keiichi, who was looking eager to get his hands on the delicious looking sweets.  
  
"Urd, please stop embarrassing Sentaro and clean up for tea," Belldandy gently scolded as she laid the food on the low table.  
  
Skuld was about to gloat when she caught Belldandy looking at her. She just gave Urd a haughty look and sat beside Sentaro, who handed her a slice of cake.  
  
"Mmm! Oishii!" Keiichi commented as he bit into his share.  
  
"Is it? I'm glad," Belldandy said, her face glowing with pride.  
  
Sentaro was nodding with agreement, until he noticed that Skuld was slightly glaring at her sister's boyfriend. Instead of complaining loudly like she used to, though, she just took off a huge piece from her cake and shoved it into her mouth.  
  
Urd, who had seen the look on Skuld's face the moment she reentered the room from the bathroom, passed by her little sister on her way to her seat. "Does that silence mean you've now accepted Keiichi and Belldandy as a couple, or is that because a certain someone is here today?" Urd teased.  
  
Skuld's glare intensified as she directed her gaze towards her oldest sister, her face becoming red. " . . . why . . . you . . . !!!"  
  
"Skuld, not in front of the visitor please," Belldandy said sternly, yet the gentle look on her face never dissipated.   
  
The two young adolescents in front of the table blushed.  
  
When Skuld had finished eating her cake, she quickly gulped down her tea and stood up, startling Sentaro. Looking up, he saw that she was looking at him, a sweet smile on her young face. "Are you done?" she asked.  
  
"Huh? Uh, sure!!" Sentaro greedily ate the food on his plate before standing up beside his friend. "Shall we?"  
  
Skuld nodded. "Ne, onee-sama, we'll be at my lab, okay?"  
  
With those words, she grabbed Sentaro's hand and they both ran out of the room without bothering to wait if the other occupants of the temple house had something to say.  
  
Keiichi slowly raised his cup, his gaze still resting on the door where they had exited. "Makes you wonder where their relationship is headed, huh?" he asked to the two women beside him.  
  
While Urd nodded, Belldandy was quietly staring at her tea, a worried look on her face.  
  
*****  
  
"Can you fix it?"  
  
Sentaro was seated on the study desk in Skuld's lab, watching as Skuld opened his Discman with a screwdriver and carefully examined its contents.  
  
"Oh, this? No prob! This is a piece of cake for a genius like me!" Skuld said proudly as she expertly tinkered with the chips and circuits.  
  
[ She's really an awfully gifted person, ] Sentaro thought as he stared at his extremely talented friend at work. "I'll bet you get the highest grades at school."  
  
Skuld looked at him sheepishly. "Not really. I guess this is just my area. There are some things where I don't excel in."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Yup." [ Like trying to perform a higher-level magic. It's been so long since I last practiced a new one. If this goes on, I'll be way behind goddesses my age . . . ] Skuld frowned to herself before placing her screwdriver beside the area where her friend was sitting. "Actually, Sentaro-kun, all your Discman needs is a new lens. You must have cracked it when you dropped it. Who told you to listen to it while riding on your bike anyway?"  
  
Sentaro scratched the back of his head in a gesture of embarrassment. "I used to do it with my Walkman. I didn't think it could get broken that easily."  
  
"Well now you know. Sometimes the more complex and high-tech the machine is, the easier it breaks. You're lucky to have only the lens damaged – you could have destroyed the entire thing!" Skuld pushed herself away from the desk and stood up from her chair. She walked towards the cabinet located at one side of the room, avoiding all the other machine parts scattered around the floor, and started to rummage inside one of the drawers in search for spare lenses.   
  
"Where did you get all this stuff?" Sentaro asked, jumping off the desk and joining her near the cabinet.  
  
Skuld brought up a small, glass-like object, looking at it closely before tossing it aside. "Some from shops. Most from junkyards."  
  
"J-junkyards?"  
  
"Machines are composed of a lot of different parts. Just because one part of it is not working anymore, it doesn't necessarily have to mean that all the rest are not, too. I just take those that are still functional."   
  
"But how do you know which parts are still working?"  
  
Skuld's head turned, giving Sentaro a sly wink. "They call out to me."  
  
Her startled friend leaned back, baffled by her answer. "Huh?"  
  
"I do some tests on most of them." [ And the rest gives a faint cry, although I can't hear them as well as onee-sama does. ] She stood up straighter and sighed. "I think I'm out of lenses. We may have to go downtown to get some."   
  
Sentaro shoved his hands into the pockets of his pants. "Okay!"  
  
"Where would you like to get it?" Skuld asked, a mischievous look on her face. "The applications store . . . or the junkyard?"  
  
"The applications store please." Sentaro made a face. "Not that I don't believe you'll be able to find a workable lens . . . it's just that I'd rather we spend the rest of this afternoon somewhere else other than a junkyard."  
  
Skuld nodded. "Let's go get our bikes then."  
  
The two young adolescents walked past the temple on their way to the shed beside it. As Skuld was pushing her green mountain bike out of the small shack, Sentaro couldn't help but notice how well maintained it was. It was hard to believe that Skuld knew how to take very good care of her bike, considering that she had really hated them before they met. Then again, it *was* a *contraption* - a machine of some sort, and he knew that Skuld could handle anything that had to do with that.  
  
"Let me check your chains before we leave," Skuld said after giving her bike a routine check.   
  
That was another thing Sentaro liked whenever he and Skuld would ride on their bikes. His would always get a free inspection – whether he liked it or not.  
  
As they were on their way to where Sentaro had left his bike, Belldandy – who was taking the laundry with Keiichi – saw them and smiled. "Are you going somewhere, Skuld?" she asked.  
  
Her sister nodded. "We'll be getting new lenses for Sentaro-kun's Discman. I might as well fill my lab inventory while I'm at it . . . I'm lacking a few machine parts."  
  
Keiichi smiled through the bundle of clothes he held in his arms. "I think you used your last lens for my CD player."  
  
"I know."  
  
"Sentaro, take my sister back before lunch," Belldandy told Sentaro, who nodded.  
  
"Don't you two run off together and never come back, you hear?" Urd said, suddenly appearing behind them.  
  
Skuld and Sentaro blushed. "N-now why would we do that? Urd wa baka!" With one hand holding her bike and the other holding Sentaro's hand, Skuld dragged the embarrassed boy to his waiting bike.   
  
"Oh, and don't eat anything that will spoil your appetite Skuld!" Belldandy called out as she watched her young sister and her sister's friend ride out of the temple. Skuld just waved at her before turning to catch up with her companion.  
  
*****  
  
A car moved slightly to the right as it whizzed past Skuld. A white plastic wrapper was hanging on one of her bicycle's handles, its contents making it swing as she pedaled her way to the top of a small hill. Skuld had long since stopped mulling over the suggestion that bikes needed motors for this feat and was now just concentrating on getting to the peak, where the path on the way down would be easier.  
  
Soon her legs stopped moving as she let gravity take its place, pushing the bike down the other side of the hill without her having to expend so much energy. She enjoyed this – the scenery passing by her at such an amazing speed that everything went by in a blur; the feeling of the wind rushing past her face, blowing her beautiful black hair at every which way it took it, unobscuring it from her view. Briefly glancing behind her back, she knew from the look of exhilaration on his face that Sentaro loved this as well. After all, bicycles were his life.  
  
"Hey, Skuld!" Sentaro called out, increasing his pace as soon as they had reached level ground so that he could be alongside his friend. "Wanna stop by for some ice cream? My treat!"  
  
"Ice cream?? Ohhhhh . . ." Skuld wavered slightly, her mouth watering, her mind completely engrossed with even just the thought of the delicacy. Blinking, she suddenly saw the stern face of her sister, which was what she would most likely encounter back at the temple if she had ruined her appetite with the normally huge amounts of ice cream that she could consume in one sitting.  
  
Sentaro slowed as they approached an intersection. "Skuld?"  
  
"I'd really love to, but Belldandy-oneesama is not going to be happy if I eat something before lunch," Skuld apologized, at the same time trying to push down her cravings.  
  
Her friend shrugged. "I'll just get you a cone. She won't notice."  
  
"Oh she will. She *definitely* will." Skuld sighed. "Ohh . . . but I really want an ice cream . . ."  
  
"Tell you what." Both of them went to a complete stop as they waited for the light to change before crossing the road. "Why don't we just buy a gallon and take it home so we could eat some after lunch?"  
  
Skuld grinned. "Then what are we waiting for?" She turned her bicycle around and started to pedal. "Last one to the ice cream shop is a rotten egg!" she said cheerfully.  
  
Sentaro started to ride after her. "Hey! No fair! Come back!"  
  
Being a bike racer, Sentaro was very fast, but it took him a while before he was able to catch up with Skuld. A few minutes later, both of them were walking out of the 131 Ice Cream shop, a gallon of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough hanging in a plastic wrapper around Sentaro's arm.  
  
"Arigato, Sentaro-kun!" Skuld was saying as they unlocked their bikes.  
  
Sentaro ran his hand through his spiky dark brown hair and gave her a sheepish smile. "It's nothing. Hey, think of it as a service charge for you fixing my Discman."  
  
"No, really. I mean it. Thanks." For a while Skuld just stared at him. Then she turned around so that he wouldn't see her flushed face. "Anyway, let's get home for some lunch."  
  
Neither of them said anything further, each of them respecting the silence between them as they headed back to the old temple.   
  
*****  
  
Belldandy walked past the shoji leading to the living room, where she could see Sentaro talking animatedly with Urd about the show on the television while Skuld was sitting silently beside them, happily devouring her fifth cup of ice cream. The two adolescents had decided to join Urd after spending some time inside Skuld's laboratory after lunch, fixing Sentaro's Discman. She smiled to herself before moving on to the kitchen, planning to prepare herself a cup of Darjeeling tea before joining her sisters.  
  
She had just passed by the phone when it rang. Shocked for a moment, Belldandy lifted the handset from the receiver just as it rang for the second time. "Hai. Morisato des," she said in a gentle voice.  
  
Sentaro had been recounting the first episode of Bolting III to Urd when Belldandy entered, calling his name. "Sentaro-kun, your okaa-san called. She wanted you to go home early today," she informed him.  
  
"Awww . . ." Sentaro lifted himself off heavily from the ground. "I'll just have to tell you what happened tomorrow," he told Urd.  
  
"You'd better!" Urd said.  
  
Blushing, Sentaro turned to face Skuld, who had just stood up and was patting her jeans, a cup of ice cream in one hand, a teaspoon in her mouth. "I'll see you out," she said, temporarily removing the obstruction in her mouth before popping it back in with a new scoop of ice cream.  
  
"Ja, Belldandy onee-sama, Urd onee-sama," Sentaro said before walking out of the living room with Skuld.  
  
Urd waited until Skuld closed the shoji behind her before shaking her head. "It's funny. Once she hated it whenever he visited, and yet now she practically doesn't care. And I can tell that Sentaro has something for our little sister, but he's probably going to be as slow as Keiichi is . . . maybe I can whip up something . . ."  
  
"Now onee-sama, you know better than to interfere with Skuld's life. She'll just get angry with you again," Belldandy scolded, wiping the low table with a piece of cloth before settling down to drink her tea. "By the way, now that our visitor is gone, I think we have to talk about the latest potion you tried to insert into Keiichi-san's lunch earlier today . . ."  
  
"Urk . . ."  
  
*****  
  
"Will you be coming again tomorrow?"  
  
Sentaro looked up from pushing his bike, a surprised look on his face. "Eh? Why? Are you going somewhere tomorrow?"  
  
Skuld shook her head. "No. I just wanted to know."  
  
"Am I a bother to you?"  
  
"Huh? No! No . . ." This time Skuld shook her head furiously. "You're no bother at all. It's just that . . . well . . ."  
  
Sentaro gave a sigh of relief. "That's good. For a moment there I thought you didn't want me to come anymore."  
  
[ How could I? I'm already attached to you . . . ] "Don't be silly."  
  
"I'll see you tomorrow then." He hoped on his bike and left, waving his hand goodbye.  
  
"Ja ne! And be careful with your Discman next time!" Skuld called out. She stood there, watching him leave with a small smile on her face, before finally nodding to herself and entering the house.  
  
  
Japanese words used:  
arigato - thank you  
hai - yes  
konnichiwa – hello/good afternoon  
ja ne – bye!  
oishii – delicious  
okaa-san - mother  
onee-sama – big sister  
shoji - sliding panel door  
"Urd wa baka!" - Urd is stupid! (or something akin to that)  
yurusaiwa ne – stop it! 


	2. Calling

CHAPTER TWO: CALLING  
  
"Has your boyfriend left yet?" Urd asked Skuld as her youngest sister entered the living room, this time carrying an electronics magazine with her.  
  
Skuld huffed before sitting down beside the low table near Belldandy and Keiichi. "Like I said, Urd. He's not my boyfriend."  
  
"Oh, please," Urd scoffed. "It's not like you to lie."  
  
"It's not a lie! Goddesses are incapable of lying, remember?" Skuld defended. "He's just my friend, okay? Nothing more."  
  
Urd turned away, a sly look on her face. "I'll bet."  
  
Keiichi shook his head with a knowing smile. "Why do I have a feeling you're going to be interfering with *their* relationship soon, Urd?"  
  
"Hmm? And what makes you think that?"  
  
"Because it's in your nature."  
  
Skuld glared at her sister. "You try doing something to Sentaro and I swear, Urd, I won't let you get away with it!"  
  
Urd's eyes moved towards Skuld, her head stationary. "You do that and I'll make you create another set of useless machines."  
  
Skuld gulped at the intensity of the gaze Urd was giving her, knowing fully well that she had no power over her eldest sister no matter what she said or did. She just stuck her tongue out and immediately immersed herself in her magazine, retreating for the moment.  
  
"Onee-san, it's not very nice to indulge in people's weakness, especially if they're not at fault," Belldandy said, huge needles clacking together as she knitted.   
  
"It's not very nice to get even with older sisters who just want to help, either."  
  
"No offense, Urd, but. . ." Keiichi started, " . . . what you consider "help" becomes a problem sometimes."  
  
"Ah, but they're not totally ineffective, ne?" Urd said confidently. "I mean, look at how most of my help got the both of you!"  
  
"You mean most of your schemes."  
  
"Be that way," Urd scoffed. "It's okay. I *know* you're grateful."  
  
"Right . . ." Keiichi said just before the phone rang.   
  
Belldandy was about to put down her needles to answer it when Keiichi placed a hand on hers. "I'll get it," he told her.  
  
She shook her head and smiled up to him. "I'll be going to the kitchen to fix our snacks for tea anyway. I'll go with you." Taking Keiichi's outstretched hand, he helped her pull herself up before walking out of the room together.  
  
Skuld chose to ignore them this time instead of commenting, flipping a page in the magazine she was reading. "I hope it's not Sentaro's mom . . ." she muttered loudly. "I don't want to hear him getting hurt on his bike again on his way home."  
  
"Worrywart. Your boyfriend can pretty much take care of himself," Urd said.  
  
Skuld could only roll her eyes.  
  
*****  
  
Keiichi casually made his way down the hallway towards the phone, picking up the receiver as he watched Belldandy enter the kitchen. He sighed, thinking of how lucky he was to have a beautiful goddess as a girlfriend. "Moshi-moshi?"  
  
"It is I."  
  
Keiichi's eyes widened at the sound of the deep, proud voice. "K-Kami-sama! Wha-what can I do for you?" he blurted out, half tempted to kneel on the ground even though the Almighty was not there. Or was not exactly there. Even after all those years it was still hard to grasp the concept of the world where the gods and goddesses reside in.   
  
"I wish to speak with the goddess Belldandy."  
  
"H-hai. I'll get her right away, my Lord!" Keiichi stammered before stumbling his way to the kitchen. [ I wonder what he wants? Surely he's not asking the three sisters to go back to the heavens . . . ? ] he thought, nervous all of a sudden. Kami-sama almost always brought bad news whenever he called.  
  
Belldandy had been carefully pouring tea into four glasses when Keiichi went inside the kitchen, calling her name. "Hai, Keiichi-san?" she asked.  
  
"Ka- . . . he . . . phone . . . you . . . wa . . ." Keiichi, in all his nervousness, stuttered, pointing at the general direction of the phone.  
  
Belldandy tilted her head to the side, a cute, innocent smile on her face. "Eh?"  
  
"Ah . . . eh . . . *ahem*. Ka-kami-sama is on the phone . . ." Keiichi finally managed to say.  
  
The passive look on her face became worried as Belldandy rushed towards the phone, exhaling a breath she had been holding back before lifting the receiving end of the receiver to her ear. "Your Eminence."  
  
"I will not prolong this discussion, as I shall tell you immediately what the purpose of this call is. It is of your sister, Skuld."  
  
Belldandy felt her heart skip a beat as the Lord mentioned the name of her sister. She cast her worried look at Keiichi, who could only share the same expression. "What can she do for you, Your Eminence?"  
  
"I have suspended her Earth training license. She is to return immediately."  
  
"What?" Belldandy exclaimed, aghast. "But . . . but my Lord, what has she done?"  
  
"She is a young goddess who is nearing the end of her childhood, and yet still had not reached the potential that she could have attained if she had remained here."  
  
"My Lord, I am aware that this is a difficult time for my sister, but Urd and I are assisting her in –"  
  
"It is not enough."  
  
Belldandy paused for a while, sadness eminent on her features. "Almighty, I beg you . . . please do not take Skuld. She is happy here . . ."  
  
"I am aware of that."  
  
"And . . . and still, this is the way the lord had decided on how to educate Skuld?" Belldandy said almost incredulously.   
  
"This may be cruel, but yes. Besides, even though staying in the mortal realm had made a great influence on her, I do not think she is expounding her full potentials, which is quite a shame given a talented goddess such as herself. Now te-"  
  
"Almighty!" Belldandy boldly interrupted with a pleading voice. "My Lord, please . . ."  
  
"I will take no more excuses. No matter what happens, may Yggdrasil crash again due to another *unfortunate* accident, the young goddess is still going home."  
  
"I . . . I see . . ." Belldandy bowed her head in defeat. "I'm sorry for disagreeing with you, Your Eminence . . . but may I ask for a request in behalf of my sister?"  
  
"And what is that request?"  
  
"If she is to leave, please grant her the time to say goodbye to her friends. Let her spend a few last moments with those she cares for, so that she would not be so harmed by your decision."  
  
The Almighty was silent for a short while, as if he was thinking deeply about the matter. Belldandy held her breath. "Very well. I shall give her three days, starting *today*. That is all."  
  
"Thank you so much," Belldandy said before the transmission was terminated. She returned the receiver to its cradle, leaned on it heavily, and sighed.  
  
"That was about me, wasn't it?"  
  
Belldandy looked up, surprised to see Skuld standing right out of the door leading to the living room, in front of Keiichi and the kitchen.  
  
*****  
  
Skuld hadn't meant to eavesdrop on the conversation, contrary to what she would normally do. She just needed a break from Urd's constant teasing, so she decided to move from the living room to her laboratory, where she knew she would find peace and quiet. But when she heard her name just as she had slightly slid the shoji open, she paused, leaning on the wooden door as she quietly listened. Keiichi barely even noticed her.  
  
Belldandy had mentioned something about education, that and a request. To say goodbye to her friends. For what? Why should she have to say goodbye? Clenching her fists tightly, she waited until her sister ended the conversation before coming out, confronting her sister, eyebrows knitted, a small frown on her face. "That was about me, wasn't it?"  
  
Her sister had looked up and had turned to her direction, startled and speechless.  
  
"Kami-sama wants me to return, doesn't he?"  
  
Keiichi could only watch as his girlfriend looked away from her sister.  
  
Skuld took a step forward. "Why?"  
  
Belldandy could only slowly shake her head.  
  
"*Why* do I have to return??" Skuld demanded, stamping her foot.   
  
"Skuld, Kami-sama thinks you need to be trained-"  
  
"But isn't that what you and Urd are doing now?" Skuld asked.  
  
"Yes . . . but . . ."  
  
Skuld violently shook her head. "No buts! I'm not going back!"  
  
Belldandy gave her a stern look. "Skuld, you know we should obey the Lord's orders . . ."  
  
"But I didn't do anything wrong!!"  
  
"Skuld . . ."  
  
"No! NO!" Skuld slowly backed from her sister before completely turning around and running away.  
  
Belldandy tried to reach out for her but hesitated, bowing her head. Keiichi came to her side and placed a hand on her shoulder, but it did little to comfort her. Then Urd came walking out of the living room, a serious, almost unreadable expression on her face.  
  
"Kami-sama is really taking her?" Urd asked in a quiet voice.  
  
Her younger sister nodded slightly. "Hai." Belldandy bit her lip. "The Lord said no more excuses, onee-sama."  
  
Urd had a bitter look on her face as she clenched her fists. "Then there's nothing we can do."  
  
Belldandy, Keiichi, and Urd could only stare at each other, their sadness evident in their eyes.  
  
*****  
  
Skuld ran and ran, tears in her eyes, out of the temple house and into the nearby shed, locking herself inside. Upon making sure that the bolts were secured, she leaned against the door and slumped to the floor, hugging her knees as she tried to comfort herself in the darkness. Noble Scarlet, given the degree of freedom that the angel had been granted for having a young goddess for a master, came out on her own will, and hovered over Skuld's shoulder, a worried look on her face.  
  
Through the window where the only source of light came from, Skuld could hear Banpei-kun's whirring and clicking mechanisms, patrolling the grounds as he was supposed to during the evening. [ One of my most successful designs . . . ] she thought, leaning her head against the door. [ Mara's presence here became less and less ever since I made him . . . ]  
  
[ If I leave, who would make sure Banpei would get his routine check-ups and updates? And Sigel? What if she breaks another part? Who would repair her? ]  
  
[ Who would protect onee-sama? And Urd . . . how come she gets to be left behind while I have to go? She has more faults than I do . . . ]  
  
Skuld bit her lip. One of her main reasons for leaving the heavens, aside from the bug problem, was because she had been lonely without her sisters. A year working without them had made her so depressed she was almost ecstatic when the problem with bugs came up. Finally, there came an excuse for leaving behind her godly functions at the Yggdrasil computer system. She even stayed illegally on Earth afterwards, even if she had hated Keiichi, but she was eventually able to legalize her stay as she and Urd had been called back once. Together. With a chance of coming back. Now it seemed she was coming back to square one.  
  
Noble Scarlet gently reached out to touch her master, trying to offer comfort without words. Skuld gave her a slight smile and took the angel into her arms, knowing that the angel was perhaps the only one who could truly understand the bitterness that was welling up inside her.  
  
"I'm needed here . . . I had helped my sisters face a lot of problems . . . the Ultimate Destruction Program crisis, the time when Urd got separated into two and her evil side had almost gotten rid of Belldandy onee-sama . . . when I helped Lind and was able to summon you once more . . . isn't that enough reason not to call me back?" She whispered to her little friend. "Is it just because I'm not powerful enough? Is it because I can't develop my powers more than what they are now? But I've been working so hard . . ."  
  
She blindly stared at the dark room, trying to find anything to use her powers on. She could see her locked bike in the distance. Concentrating hard, she carefully lifted the heavy bike towards her using levitation, and had given it a new paint coating with the power of a single thought.   
  
But she could not defend herself and others with those powers alone. She could not make use of high-level spells without the help of her sisters. If anything, she was almost useless if she did not have any spare parts and tools in hand.  
  
"This is so unfair . . ."  
  
More tears followed the path that had been made by earlier ones, some deviating, creating trails of their own. Holding Noble Scarlet close to her aching chest, a small sob escaped her throat, yet any more that would have followed had been painfully restrained. [ I'm not a child . . . I won't cry anymore . . . I won't . . . ]  
  
Nevertheless, Banpei-kun and Sigel's enhanced hearing could not help but hear the sound of soft, heartbreaking sobs emanating from the shed that night.  
  
*****  
  
Urd silently wandered around the temple grounds. It was already past midnight, and her youngest sister had not returned. Belldandy had wanted to pick her up when she had not come for dinner – being a goddess, it had not taken her long to discover that her sister had locked herself up in the shed – but when Skuld refused to answer, she left the food outside in hopes that Skuld would get hungry enough to come out and take it herself. [ But skipping dinner with us is one thing, not coming back for the night is another story, ] Urd thought, frowning.  
  
She became even more upset when she discovered Skuld's untouched food.  
  
Urd stood back, pausing for a short while before reaching out towards the shed, a ring of pure magic emanating from where she had touched the wooden wall with her fingers, which had managed to slip through the other side of the wall. Within seconds, her entire being was already inside the shack, her eyes adjusting to the darkness of the room.  
  
Everywhere around her were objects that had been levitated or had been given labels or entirely new paint jobs. Slumped against the door was Skuld, the path her tears made evident on her young features, her form – shivering from the cold – completely exhausted from the amount of power that she had exerted. Noble Scarlet was hovering over her, and looked at the newcomer with concern written all over her face.  
  
Urd regarded the angel for a moment, nodding slightly to her sister's other half before kneeling down beside Skuld, a rare, tender look on her face. "You're lucky I didn't decide to just blow down the door . . ." she whispered softly, tending to the stray locks of dark hair that found themselves on Skuld's face. Lifting her youngest sister in her arms instead of using her powers as she normally would, Urd brought her back to the temple, where Belldandy was waiting for them with Skuld's futon ready. Noble Scarlet silently followed them.  
  
Belldandy watched as her elder sister gently laid her younger one on the mattress. Delving into her powers, she changed Skuld's clothes into more comfortable pajamas before covering her with a warm blanket. With an open, inviting palm, she called Noble Scarlet to her, who obeyed her willingly. Belldandy silently thanked the angel for watching over her sister, kissing her at the small of her cheek. The angel then retired, quietly disappearing into her master's sleeping form.  
  
"It makes you wonder . . ." Urd said silently as she watched Belldandy tuck Skuld in. "For Kami-sama to make this command . . . where have we gone wrong in her training?"  
  
Belldandy shook her head. "I don't think we have done anything wrong. Kami-sama just wishes for her well-being, as we would."  
  
"But what if it would be better for her if she just stayed here? I mean, without us, who can handle the little brat up there?"  
  
Urd felt her sister's gaze on her. She could almost see the small smile on her face . . . "I am worried about her as well, onee-sama."  
  
The eldest of the three Norns did not bother to contradict, as she knew that Belldandy could recognize the type of relationship between her and Skuld. Instead she waited until Belldandy fell asleep before leaning over and giving the youngest Norn a small kiss on her forehead. Then she turned around and made way for a troubled night.  
  
  
Japanese words used:  
hai – yes  
kami-sama – Almighty  
moshi-moshi – hello  
onee-sama – big sister  
shoji - sliding panel door 


	3. Promises to Make

CHAPTER THREE: PROMISES TO MAKE  
  
[ Something is not right . . . ]  
  
Those were the first thoughts that entered Sentaro's mind the moment he entered the temple grounds.   
  
Banpei-kun was out of sight, which was strange since he normally patrolled the grounds at that hour for reasons that Skuld had never really explicitly explained to him. Sigel also seemed to be missing, and the regular sound of a television blasting from the living room could not be heard either. [ And it's almost time for one of Urd onee-sama's favorite shows, too . . . ] Sentaro thought, checking his watch.  
  
Pushing his bike, he slowly made his way towards the back of the temple. Startled with the view that greeted him, he shoved his bike aside before running towards Skuld, who was sitting on the huge rock at the garden, her hands covering her face.  
  
"Skuld, what's wro - ?" Sentaro paused when Sigel – who was right beside her creator – suddenly turned to face him, her hand motioning him to stop.  
  
"You stay right there!" Sigel ordered. Banpei-kun moved beside her, as if seconding her motion.  
  
Skuld moved to wipe the tears from her face before facing Sigel with a small smile on her face. "It's all right, Sigel."  
  
"B-but . . . Skuld-sama . . ."  
  
"I said it's okay." Willing herself to look happier, she tried to deliver a bigger smile when she looked at Sentaro. "Konnichiwa . . ."  
  
Sentaro hesitatingly walked towards Skuld, sitting beside her on the big rock. "Hey . . ."  
  
Skuld leaned forward on her knees, patting Sigel on the head. "Leave us for a sec, okay?"  
  
Sigel frowned, but she slowly walked away, with Banpei-kun in tow.  
  
Once their robot companions have gone, Skuld and Sentaro were left alone in silence.  
  
"Skuld . . . daijoubu yo?" Sentaro asked.  
  
Skuld barely heard him. She just stared forward, her face expressionless except for her eyes, which conveyed the sadness she felt from within.  
  
"Did someone hurt you?" Sentaro held her shoulder, a concerned look on his face. He hated seeing Skuld upset – it made him feel terrible and angry. "Did someone make you cry? Tell me – I'll teach him a lesson!"  
  
The young goddess almost laughed out loud, even in her present state. How would Sentaro, a mere mortal, teach the Almighty, the lord of humans and gods alike, a lesson? Nevertheless, his words brought out her first genuine smile since the day before, when she first found out that she was being recalled.   
  
Skuld shook her head and sat up straighter. "I'm okay. It's . . . it's just . . ."  
  
Sentaro watched as his best friend sighed and got up from the rock. Taking a few steps forward, she paused, her hands behind her back, before turning around to face him, her long, flowing black hair moving in coordination with her petite form. "Ne, Sentaro-kun."  
  
"Hai?"  
  
"Let's go out for a bike ride."  
  
Sentaro blinked in surprise. "Eh?"  
  
*****  
  
Skuld never spoke to Sentaro while they were riding, nor had she told him where they would go. All he knew was that Skuld looked happier while the wind passed by them, and he dared not complain.  
  
It wasn't long before he noticed that she had been leading him to a location familiar to them both. [ I wonder why . . . ? ] he thought as they stopped by the river bank, dismounting on the same place where they had first met.  
  
For another short while, Skuld seemingly ignored him as they sat down on the grass, their bikes lying beside them. Sentaro respected the silence, until he finally picked up his courage to speak to her.  
  
"Sku-" "Ano-" They said at the same time.  
  
The young adolescents looked at each other sheepishly. "You go first," Sentaro said.  
  
"Sentaro-kun . . ."  
  
"Hai?"  
  
Hugging her knees close to herself, she continued. "If . . . if someone you absolutely look up to and obey, say your father, wants you to go away because he says he knows what's good for you, but you don't think what he said was right, would you go?"  
  
Sentaro shrugged. "Maybe. He is my father, so he knows more than I do. Of course, if I don't like what he wants me to do, we'll talk it over and we'll compromise."  
  
Skuld bit her lip, trying hard not to cry again. Not in front of him. "But what if you can't compromise, and that you really don't want to go . . . ?" she asked quietly.  
  
"Then I'll say no."   
  
"I can't do that . . ."  
  
Sentaro looked at his friend with a peculiar expression on his face. "Huh?"  
  
Skuld was shaking her head, tears brimming at the edge of her eyes. "I can't say no."  
  
Panic slowly welled up Sentaro's throat. "What do you mean? Where are you going?!"  
  
Skuld couldn't look at his confused eyes. "I'm going home . . ." she said, barely more than a whisper.  
  
Sentaro held her shoulder and, almost roughly, pulled her to face him. "What are you talking about? You *are* home!!"  
  
"I'm not home, Sentaro-kun . . ." Skuld said softly. "I'm not home . . ."  
  
Startled, Sentaro could only stare at her as unbalanced tears fell down her cheeks. [ She's not home . . . of course she isn't! She's a gaijin . . . ] Sentaro's eyes widened. Since the time he had met Skuld, the possibility of her returning to her home country had never crossed his mind. "But . . . why . . . ?"  
  
"They say I'm not learning enough . . ."  
  
Sentaro stood up in fury. "That's crazy! You're the smartest, most intelligent girl I've ever met in my life!"  
  
Skuld gave a small smile. "Thanks . . ."  
  
Sentaro paused for a moment, looking at her thoughtfully before sitting beside her once more. "When are you leaving?"  
  
"Tomorrow."  
  
He winced. "That's so soon . . ."  
  
Skuld sighed. "I know." She buried her face in her arms. "I wish . . . I wish I had more time . . . if only I knew sooner . . ."  
  
Sentaro hesitated at first, but his strong feelings of concern for his best friend made him place an arm over her shoulders and pull her closer to him. "When are you coming back?"  
  
"I . . . don't know." She moved slightly away from him, as she knew that he would be upset with what she had said.  
  
In truth, Sentaro was horrified. His first thought was to whisk her away somewhere until after her plane ride or whatever she had to take the next day had passed by, so that even if another schedule had been reserved for her, they would still have more time together. [ I can't do that. Belldandy onee-sama and Urd onee-sama would worry.,] he thought. [ Then maybe I could just . . . ? ]  
  
"Hey, Skuld . . . if ever . . . I mean . . . well . . ." Sentaro stuttered, his hand scratching the back of his head. "Where *do* you live anyway? You never told me."  
  
To his surprise, Skuld didn't answer him.  
  
"Skuld?"  
  
"I can't tell you."  
  
"Eh?" Sentaro leaned back, startled, his confusion evident. "Why not?"  
  
Skuld shook her head sorrowfully. "I'm sorry . . ."  
  
"It can't end this way!" Sentaro protested. "We're friends, right? You can't just disappear from my life just like that!"  
  
"I won't disappear from your life if you remember me." Skuld looked up and turned towards him. "Will you remember me?"  
  
"Wha-? What kind of a stupid question is that?!"  
  
"Will you never forget me?"  
  
Sentaro stared at her, ignoring the sudden, stinging pain at the back of his eyes. "You're not coming back, are you?"  
  
Skuld couldn't look at him in the eye.  
  
He grasped her hands and kneeled in front of her. "Skuld . . . promise me . . . promise me you'll come back."  
  
She refused to meet his gaze.  
  
"C'mon, Skuld! Promise me!!"  
  
Skuld closed her eyes. "I can't do that."  
  
Sentaro kneeled closer and clasped her hands tighter. "Why? What is so difficult about making promises?"  
  
"Because . . . I can't make promises I can't keep!"   
  
Sentaro shivered in anger before standing up and walking a few meters away from her.  
  
"Please . . ." Skuld said, her voice choked with sobs. "You wouldn't understand –"  
  
"What wouldn't I understand?! All I need to hear are a few words from you!"   
  
"Those few words mean even more than you think . . ."  
  
"How much more?"  
  
"More than you'll ever believe–"  
  
"AARGH! I'm tired of this!" Sentaro cried out. "Why is it that whenever I ask you questions you always give me vague answers? Are you intentionally doing this to me??"  
  
"I-I . . ." Skuld bit her lower lip.  
  
"Why?" Sentaro demanded.  
  
[ . . . I can't just tell him everything . . . he'll never believe me. ] "I'm sorry . . . I'm so sorry . . ."   
  
Sentaro stared at her for a moment before silently walking towards his bike. Skuld could only watch him as he picked his bike up and straddled the seat.  
  
"What I really don't understand . . ." he said quietly, his back towards her, ". . . is why you still can't trust me even after all this time."  
  
"But I do trust you!"  
  
"How sure are you?"  
  
He did not even wait for Skuld to answer. Sentaro just rode away from the riverbank, moving farther and farther away from Skuld.  
  
As soon as he was out of sight, Skuld hugged her knees once more, shivering from the sudden, cold wind that seemed to envelope her in misery. "Why?" she asked quietly, her eyes gazing up towards the heavens. "Why are you doing this to me?"  
  
Not far away, two goddesses witnessed the entire scene from the roof of a nearby house. They solemnly stood there for a few moments more before sadly looking at each other and vanishing away.  
  
  
Japanese words used:  
daijoubu yo – are you okay?  
konnichiwa – hello   
onee-sama – big sister  
shoji - sliding panel door 


	4. Saying Goodbye

CHAPTER FOUR: SAYING GOODBYE  
  
Belldandy was sitting quietly beside Keiichi inside the living room, worriedly sipping her Darjeeling tea as she waited for her younger sister to return. She and Urd had decided to leave their sister after seeing her disagreement with who was probably her only mortal friend, since they were sure Skuld needed some time alone. When the clock struck 8 pm and Skuld still hadn't returned however, Belldandy was having doubts.  
  
Just before she was about to stand up and ask Urd if they could look for their sister, Skuld slid the shoji open and quietly stepped inside the house. Keiichi had just looked up from the television as Belldandy moved to greet her sister home when he realized that someone had beaten his girlfriend to it.  
  
"Where have you been?" Urd asked, her voice stern as she watched Skuld slip on a pair of slippers.  
  
"Nowhere . . ." Skuld answered quietly, moving past her sister on her way to her laboratory.  
  
Urd followed her. "What do you mean 'nowhere'? Do you know what time it is?!"  
  
"Goddesses don't have curfews . . ." Skuld mumbled.  
  
"What did you say? You know better than to come home late. Something could have happened to you out there!"  
  
"Oh, just leave me alone!"  
  
"Don't you dare speak to your older sister like that! What is wrong with you?!"  
  
Skuld suddenly turned around, startling Urd and surprising both Belldandy and Keiichi, who were watching from a distance. "Wrong? *Everything* is wrong!! It has been since yesterday!! And who cares if something happens to me? I'll be gone tomorrow anyway, right?"  
  
"That doesn't give you an excuse to act that way!"  
  
"Why are you even bothering with me anyway? I'll bet you're happy! I'll bet you're glad you won't be having your sniveling can't-do-anything-right-always-mess-everything-up brat for a sister around anymore after tomorrow, right?!"  
  
Urd reeled back, stunned.  
  
"I'll bet onee-sama and Keiichi are also happy, because they won't be having any pesky little kid around to interfere with them either!!"  
  
Keiichi stepped forward, a hurt look on his face. "Skuld, you *know* that's not the way we feel about you!"  
  
Skuld stubbornly shook her head. "No, I don't know! I'm just a failure!! I can't even develop any of my powers! That's why Kami-sama is calling me back! That's why he doesn't care what I feel! He's going to terminate me as soon as I get back because I'm nothing to him!"  
  
"DON'T SAY THAT!"  
  
Everyone, including Skuld, stared at Belldandy, stunned with her sudden outburst. The middle Norn was looking at her sister with a stern look on her face, which softened when Skuld bowed her head and stared at the wooden floor. She closed the distance between them and hugged her. Skuld didn't return the embrace.  
  
"Kami-sama would *never* do that to you!" Belldandy said, her voice slightly strained as she tried to remain strong for her sister's sake.  
  
"Then why does it feel that way, Onee-sama?" Skuld asked in a tiny, wavering voice. Her lips quivered, and unsuppressed tears fell down her cheeks. "Ever since Sentaro and I . . . this morning . . . Why do I feel so worthless as a goddess? Am I really just a bother to everyone? Someone who would show up just to hurt the feelings of those around me?"  
  
Belldandy could feel her sister's hurt and confusion as she pulled her sister even closer to her. "Whatever you may feel, Skuld, you will *never* be worthless, and you are never a bother!"  
  
'Then why . . . ?"  
  
"You only have the best intentions at heart. You never mean to hurt anyone! And you had helped us in more ways than you're aware of. Believe me . . ."  
  
Keiichi felt sad as he watched his girlfriend embrace her sister. True, he had thought of Skuld as a bother most of the time, especially with his relationship with Belldandy and her constant interference with the temple's electrical system. [ But if you do look at it overall, some of the stuff she created had actually made our lives a lot easier . . . and safe . . . ] he thought, thinking of Banpei and how he and Urd had once considered him a useless robot until it managed to ward Mara off from the temple. He kept staring at Skuld, wondering with a heavy heart what their home would be like without the ingenious young goddess who had managed to touch his life, one way or the other.  
  
Urd, on the other hand, stared thoughtfully, almost guiltily, at her youngest sister's blank expression, Skuld's accusing words echoing in her head. She and Skuld fought all the time since Skuld first came down from the heavens, and whenever one of Skuld's inventions accidentally messed with her plans Urd always called her a brat, yet she never thought of the consequences that this might result – the conclusion that Skuld could have gathered from her thoughtless comments.  
  
She hesitated, but Urd reached out and held Belldandy's shoulder. Belldandy turned to look at her before stepping aside and letting the oldest of the Norns move closer to the youngest one.  
  
"You . . . stupid . . . idiot . . ."  
  
It was all Urd could say as she and Skuld looked at each other. Yet Belldandy and Keiichi could understand the deeper meaning of her words.  
  
Skuld's face scrunched up. She rushed forward to hug Urd and sobbed.  
  
*****  
  
Belldandy silently closed the shoji behind her as she followed Urd out of their bedroom and towards the living room, where Keiichi was waiting. "How is she?" Keiichi asked.  
  
Urd shook her head. "Terrible. Cried herself to sleep. Again."  
  
"This never happened to her before . . ." Belldandy said as she sat beside Keiichi, a troubled look on her face. "And I'm afraid she couldn't handle it very well."  
  
"This never happened to her before because she never really went down from the heavens until she followed us," Urd reminded her sister. "If she had stayed up there and maintained her job as system debugger, then she could have saved herself a lot of pain."  
  
Keiichi shrugged. "I don't know, Urd. If it weren't for her, this place would have still been full of bugs. Besides, she would have felt pretty lonely up there without you guys."  
  
"Keiichi-san's right. Skuld doesn't really have that much friends up in the heavens either. Her . . . nature . . . keeps her away from others, and she seems happiest when she's on her own, surrounded by machines . . ." Belldandy sighed. "She's only begun to accept the presence of someone else in her life other than us. But now she's deprived even of that."  
  
"Isn't there any way to stop the gate from forming and taking her away?" Keiichi asked.  
  
"Kami-sama had said 'no more excuses.' I guess he already got pretty fed up with our petty excuses not to return . . ." Urd said awkwardly.  
  
"You mean *your* petty excuses not to return. What if there was another accident? Didn't Skuld quoted something from some article or other that would prevent you from going back?"  
  
Belldandy laid her clasped hands on the table. "'Article Twenty-Five, Section Sixteen – Should forced repatriation prove impossible at the scheduled time of said repatriation, the implementation of the decision shall be suspended.' Possibly. But Kami-sama would find some other way. He was really serious this time, Keiichi-san."  
  
"He should give the kid some slack. The excuse he gave was quite flimsy too, you know," Urd commented, slightly insulted that He was not satisfied with how she and Belldandy took care of their own sister.  
  
"Perhaps Skuld would have taken this a little more lightly if Sentaro had been more understanding of her situation," Belldandy said quietly.  
  
Urd clenched her fists upon hearing the young boy's name. "That heartless brat!! As the goddess of love, I'm going to curse him so bad he won't find a decent woman even when he's already six feet under!"  
  
Keiichi shook his head. "I think he's just acting the same way Skuld is right now, Urd. We can't blame him. Especially since he doesn't know that you're goddesses."  
  
"Yes, I'm sure Sentaro's heartbroken as well . . ." Belldandy agreed.   
  
"Then . . . I guess . . . I won't be seeing Skuld anymore . . . ?" Keiichi said softly as he leaned back. He was as depressed as he once was when it was Urd who was being ordered to go back. Skuld was almost equivalent to what he could consider a younger sister, much like the way he looked at Megumi, and both he and Belldandy always found the need to protect her, being the "youngest" one in their "family," even if, being a goddess, she probably *was* pretty older than Keiichi was.  
  
"I suppose . . . all we can do now is hope that Skuld would return to us some time in the near future, which hopefully won't be more than a thousand years . . ."  
  
Keiichi winced.  
  
"You know . . . this shouldn't be too much of a problem for us, Bell." Urd said quietly. "After all, you and I could still visit her whenever we want to."  
  
Belldandy nodded slightly. "I . . . I suppose . . ."   
  
She bit her lip.  
  
[ . . . Then why am I not relieved? ]  
  
Belldandy looked at her sister.   
  
Urd did not seem convinced by her own words either.  
  
*****  
  
Skuld packed the latest issue of her favorite manga inside her backpack, which, strangely enough, already contained far more than it could have handled. Pulling on a string to close the bag's opening, she stood up, slung the pack to her back – which perhaps did not even weigh more than a few pounds – and turned to face Urd, who had been watching her from the door to her room.  
  
"Are you sure you want to leave early?" Urd asked, as Skuld's eyes averted from her gaze.  
  
"Is there anything left for me here?" Skuld replied bitterly.  
  
Urd bit her lips to resist the urge to say that her family was still there, and that they were not in any hurry to let her go. Belldandy had warned her not to upset their sister more, so when Skuld had announced that she planned to return on her own without waiting for the gate to appear, it had been difficult for Urd to swallow her anger and keep her mouth shut. But she was managing it somehow so far, and she intended to keep it that way. There was no need for the both of them to be at each other's throats before her little sister leaves.  
  
". . . I thought maybe you'd like to spend the rest of your time here with Belldandy . . ." Urd said, rephrasing her thoughts. "I mean, she was the real reason why you were here in the first place . . ."  
  
Skuld frowned. That *was* true, although all she really wanted was to get rid of the loneliness she felt when she was left to manage Yggdrasil without her sisters to keep her company. "I think I've bothered her quite enough," she said quietly, knowing all too well her unreasonable behavior during her early months on the mortal realm.  
  
With Urd slightly behind her, Skuld walked towards the living room, where she hoped to say goodbye to her elder sister before she left. As soon as she got there, however, she was greeted with the sight of an empty room, where two cups of tea, still warm, were the only indications that there were people there earlier.  
  
"Skuld! Over here!" Belldandy called from outside.  
  
Sighing, Skuld made her way towards the small pond at their backyard, where she thought she heard her sister's voice came from. Belldandy stood there, together with Keiichi . . .  
  
. . . and Sentaro . . .  
  
Suddenly blinded by tears, Skuld turned around and ran back inside the house.  
  
Sentaro ran after her. And though Urd glared at him angrily as he passed by her, she made no move to stop him.  
  
"Skuld, wait! Skuld!" Sentaro pleaded as Skuld ran inside her room and slid it shut in front of him. Stunned for a moment, Sentaro laid his palm on the shoji. "Skuld . . ."  
  
"I was ready to go home . . ." Skuld whispered, her back against the door, her entire weight leaning against the wooden frame. "I was ready to forget about *you*!! But you came . . . why are you doing this to me?!"  
  
"Skuld . . . did I hurt you that much?" Sentaro asked softly.  
  
She did not reply.  
  
Sentaro balled his hand into a fist as he rested his forehead on the shoji. "I never meant to . . . the last thing that I wanted to do was to hurt you, especially since I may never see you again . . .  
  
Skuld bit her lip.  
  
"I just . . . I was so confused. I was so angry that you could not tell me everything that I had asked for, without even taking into consideration that you must have had a good reason why," Sentaro continued.  
  
". . . I . . . I wish . . . that you could just stay here with me forever . . ."  
  
Upon hearing what he longed for, a searing pain struck Skuld as if she had been shot by a high level magic spell. Feeling as if her energy had been drained from her, her knees buckled and she sank to the floor, sobs shaking her entire frame.  
  
For although Sentaro's voiced out longing was so much similar to that of Keiichi's wish, *she did not have the power to grant it.* She was a sysop in Yggdrasil – her license dictated that she was a Type One goddess, one who is not meant to conduct business with humans. One who does not have the power to make wishes come true.  
  
Sentaro gingerly tried to slide the shoji open. Upon noticing that there was no protest, he opened the door and, his heart constricting as he saw Skuld crying, knelt down beside her. Hesitant at first, he gathered up his courage and wrapped his arms around her trembling frame. "I'm sorry . . ." he whispered, barely able to trust the normal tone of his voice as he felt himself choking on his rising emotions. "I'm so sorry . . ."  
  
As she was seated in an awkward position, Skuld did not, could not, embrace him back, much as she wanted to. Instead, she leaned against him, and perhaps no one will ever know if her tears at that moment were those of sadness or of bitter joy.  
  
*****  
  
Sentaro watched as Skuld's family made the final preparations for her trip home. Keiichi swung a single bag into his motorcycle's attached passenger seat, while Belldandy gave her little sister a red helmet to wear on the trip. For a while, Sentaro wondered why Skuld's sisters were not accompanying her to the "airport", but he felt that he was in no position to ask. He was intruding enough with their goodbyes as it was.  
  
"Have a safe trip," Belldandy told Skuld, hugging her tight.  
  
After making sure that Sentaro was out of reach, Urd leaned down towards her youngest sister. "We'll meet you there . . ." she whispered.  
  
Skuld nodded. Slowly, she turned towards Sentaro, who looked at her awkwardly.  
  
"I . . . I noticed that you only had one bag to take home . . ." Sentaro said, placing his palm at the back of his neck. "It . . . it kind of raised my hopes that you will be back someday, seeing that you didn't carry all of your stuff and all . . .  
  
. . . but then . . . I guess your sisters can just have the rest of your stuff delivered, ne?"  
  
Skuld turned her eyes away from Sentaro. Gazing at him pulled strings in her heart, resulting in emotions that were almost too painful to bear, and she did not wish to cry again as she had earlier.  
  
"I promise."  
  
Skuld looked up, surprised.  
  
Sentaro walked towards her, daring to come so close that he could almost feel her breath on his face. He saw the pendant that he had given her during one of his trips hanging around her neck, and he reached out and grasped it gently within his palm.  
  
"I swear that I will never forget you."  
  
Noble Scarlet need not intervene this time. On her own accord, Skuld leaned forward and kissed his cheek, transferring the look of surprise from her face to his.  
  
She cannot make a contract with him. Even if she did not have the capability of granting wishes, she cannot make promises with him. But she can make promises with herself. One that she was sure she would be able to keep. "I promise . . . I will never forget you, either."  
  
Keiichi nervously looked up at the skies, which were starting to gather ominously above them. "Skuld . . ."  
  
Sentaro released her pendant, and Skuld ran towards Keiichi's motorcycle, a hand over the treasured necklace. [ And may this be a witness to that promise . . . ] she thought to herself.  
  
Sentaro stayed in front of the temple steps until the motorcycle was out of sight, failing to notice that Belldandy and Urd had disappeared from behind him. It was only when he was riding on his bike on his way back home that he remembered that he had forgotten to say goodbye . . .  
  
*****  
  
Somewhere, in a small lake hidden by trees just behind the temple, a young goddess bade goodbye to her sisters and the one mortal that knew of her divine origins, content with how she and her friend had parted. And as she magically started to return to the heavens, she prayed with all her heart that a parting without goodbyes will grant them a future together.  
  
Somehow. Someday . . .  
  
  
  
Japanese words used:  
kami-sama – Almighty   
onee-sama – big sister  
shoji - sliding panel door 


	5. Changes Over Time

Author's Notes:  
Thank you so much for all your comments! I'm so glad you loved the story! It encouraged me to find a way to get rid of my writer's block, and though it took some time, before I knew it I wrote this particular scene longer than I should have, thus having to have to re-number the chapters I have in plan for this story . . .  
  
Admittedly, I found this chapter a little boring in the sense that not much happened. I also admit that I do not know much about the fifth goddess (even after playing the A!MG game for the DC and even if I zealously read the translations of the latest issues in Japan), plus I am not quite sure if my perception of valkyries are correct. Please forgive me for this. I'll try to correct it if I have time in between chapters, or when the fic is done.  
  
Once again, thank you!!  
  
P.S. I uploaded the previous chapters to include this translation, but I'll post this in anyway: shoji – sliding panel door  
  
  
  
CHAPTER FIVE: CHANGES OVER TIME  
  
With a small sigh, a goddess walked out of a large, seemingly empty room. As soon as she took a few steps away from the archway, two huge, sparkling white doors – meticulously carved by the best craftsmen of all Asgard with images of gods and goddesses, with angels, floras and faunas – suddenly, quietly, closed behind her, even without the presence of any being beside either door.  
  
After risking a slightly irritated behind her, Urd made her way down a grand corridor, passing by breathtaking architectural structures that defied any notion of physics, and fabulous decorations arranged across the marvelous window-filled hallway that no human being could ever had imagined. A small smile tried to creep its way to her lips, and though she tried to fight it, she eventually lost.  
  
It has been quite some time since Urd had left Earth realm and visited home, and it probably would not have crossed her mind for perhaps a few more months, when she decides to visit her sister. But Kami-sama had called her and had asked the eldest Norn to grant him her presence, and who was she to defy the Almighty's request?  
  
[And all he wanted was that. To think I worried for nothing . . . ] Urd thought, relieved. She recalled how anxious she was before she had left the Morisato household, wondering if she had done something wrong again and was about to be reprimanded.  
  
However irritated she may seem of having to deal with severe amounts of nervousness for naught, truth to be told the smile on her lips came as a result of her meeting with the Almighty and the fact that she was home, even if it was only for a short while. Occasionally, sysop gods and goddesses passed by, performing their duties required from them to maintain the universal computer system, Yggdrasil, located deep in the very same palace that Urd walked in. Those who were familiar with her paused to give her a happy greeting before running off somewhere, perhaps to chase bugs, fix loopholes, modify existing programs, and do whatever else there is that they were supposed to do.  
  
Urd wondered where Skuld was among them.  
  
She soon reached the end of the main corridor and walked into a huge forest that made the backyard of the entire palace, filled with trees, some of which were non-existent on Earth. Urd stretched out her arms, placing her hands behind her neck as she breathed deeply.  
  
"Welcome back," another goddess said, coming out from behind a tree. Cool, calm winds caressed her light purple locks – long in front, short at the back, and she gazed at Urd with brown eyes that conveyed a sense of seriousness that she never seemed to have lost in her very long lifetime.  
  
Urd turned to her direction, bringing her arms back to her side. "Oh. Hello, Lind. Out on vacation?"  
  
Lind shook her head as she headed towards Urd. "No. I am here on a special assignment."  
  
"You keep the birds out of the palace?" Urd asked jokingly. And as she expected, Lind did not smile. Rather, the battle goddess just raised her eyebrows. "Yeesh, you haven't changed at all, have you?"  
  
"Perhaps it depends on how you look at me. And you are still mischievous, am I correct?"  
  
"I prefer to call it 'fun-loving'. But I have to admit, it's getting a little boring down below."  
  
They started to walk together, heading deeper into the "garden".  
  
"Is that because Belldandy and her mortal charge are already engaged?" Lind inquired.  
  
Urd shrugged. "About time, don't you think? I mean, it's been years since Bell-chan had answered his call. By all accounts, they should be married, not engaged."  
  
"If you are bored, then why not return to your duties here?"  
  
Urd looked at Lind in horror. "Umm . . . it's boring, but it's not *that* boring! Compared to getting stuck working all day . . . I mean . . ."  
  
Lind shook her head. "Even you will have to return eventually. You do not have any specific obligations there."  
  
"I know."   
  
Urd paused for a short moment, as if reflecting on what had been said. "Hey, have you seen my sister around?"  
  
"Skuld?"  
  
Urd nodded. "How is she? I mean, not that I *care*, but of course Belldandy would like to know about her progress and all . . ."  
  
Lind looked a little skeptical with her excuse. "She is doing magnificently. A huge improvement from when she first came back in her state of depression," she answered anyway.   
  
"Better than the last time I saw her?"  
  
"Yes. There was a time, however, when Kami-sama had banned her from machines."  
  
Urd abruptly looked at her companion, her face registering disbelief. "He did?" she asked incredulously.  
  
"Yes."  
  
The eldest Norn just stood there in shock. Take Skuld away from her machines and her youngest sister would have lost practically everything she held dear.  
  
"It was only temporary," Lind was quick to assure, although the tone of her voice – that of which was completely stern – had not changed. "It had been decided that she should depend less on her machines until her powers had developed into a considerable level equal to goddesses of her age, as her ratings show that she is quite behind all the others. The ban has already been lifted months ago."  
  
Urd frowned slightly. "I'm surprised that did not send her into another bout of depression."  
  
"On the contrary. The knowledge that the ban would be lifted until she had reached the level Kami-sama had prescribed had encouraged her to work harder. Her current reading is now slightly above that of her peers. It's still weak compared to ours, but it is better."  
  
[Belldandy once said that our powers originate from love . . . it's odd that Skuld loves her machines *that* much to push her into developing her powers . . .] Urd thought, scratching her head, a slightly exasperated look on her face.  
  
"She seems to be in the habit of occasionally building bicycles since she came back – many younger goddesses had actually benefited from her pastime," Lind continued.  
  
"Ohhhh . . ." Urd nodded slowly, her face becoming mischievous as her eyes lighted up with understanding. "I see. Funny – I didn't see that when I last saw her . . . except perhaps noticed the number of kids on bicycles nowadays."  
  
"She does keep to herself sometimes."  
  
They came to a stop in front of a huge, sparkling blue lake, where a white kiosk stood hovering slightly above it at its middle, the path leading to it made up by flat, wide, marble-like stones, each step slightly elevated from the last. Urd was content with seeing the structure from afar and remained where she was near the shore. Lind, however, decided to climb up the first few steps.  
  
"I trust that you have already gone and seen Kami-sama?" Lind asked.  
  
"Yeah . . ."  
  
"When do you plan to go home?"  
  
"In a while." Urd kneeled down near the water and dipped her hand into it. "I'm enjoying it here."   
  
Whispering a few chosen words, the cold water surrounding her palm suddenly rose, and she sent it towards Lind's direction, splashing her with liberal amounts of water.   
  
Lind's eyes widened at the water onslaught that she jumped and flew into the air; a little too late to stay completely dry, however, as her lower half was partly drenched. She glared at Urd. "That was a shameful waste of energy," she said sternly.  
  
"Aww, loosen up a bit!" Urd said, grinning widely as she stood back up. "We don't depend on secondary energy sources up-!!"  
  
She barely had the chance to finish her sentence when she was suddenly completely dosed from head to foot with *vast* amounts of water.  
  
For a while, neither goddesses spoke. Urd seemed slightly shocked that Lind had actually retaliated. Lind just stared at her, eyebrows raised. Then, to the eldest Norn's surprise, a ghost of a smile appeared on the battle goddess's face.  
  
"That wasn't me."  
  
Urd stopped muttering a spell that should have sent a huge tidal wave over Lind, giving her a confused look instead. "Huh?"  
  
"That was me!" a familiar voice behind Urd suddenly said.  
  
There was a short instance where Urd actually thought she heard movement behind her, but quickly swiveling around to look did not give her any results. Then, someone shoved her, sending her sprawling into the lake, too shocked to use her powers to save herself.  
  
As the shoreline was not deep, Urd managed to pull herself up into a kneeling position, sputtering water from her mouth, her hair clinging to the sides of her face. She growled, her mind quickly trying to devise some sort of revenge on her unlucky assailant. "Why you . . .!!!"  
  
She turned towards the shore, seemingly glaring at the trees that were in the opposite direction where she had been pushed. But it was not the plants she was looking at. "Come out, you little brat!" she said, sending two small water balls in that path. Both had slowed down, floating for a short while where they had stopped, and abruptly returned to her, hitting her instead. Straight at the face.  
  
The air just before the water wavered and rippled, and where was once empty space now stood, or rather, kneeled Skuld, who was laughing so hard she was holding her stomach, tears streaming down her eyes. Lind just hovered there, her tiny smile still present.  
  
"Hmph!" Urd rose from the water and made her way to dry land, and within seconds she was dry again, with a whole new attire and seemingly blow-dried hair. "Just because you managed to hit me, it doesn't mean you should get all cocky, kid," she told her sister, the smile she had earlier zealously fighting to return, but this time she made sure she reeled it in before it appeared.  
  
"Urd, water is *my* element! You can't hit me with those flimsy little balls even if you wanted to!" Skuld said, wiping the tears of laughter from her eyes before standing up straight and proud.  
  
Lind drifted over to Skuld's side, her clothes completely dry as well. "Skuld has been there since we had reached the lake. I'm surprised you haven't noticed her presence," she said.  
  
Skuld grinned haughtily. "Onee-sama had always said you were terrible with hide-and-seek."  
  
"For your information, I knew you were there the entire time!" Urd defended, glaring at her sister as the youngest Norn stuck her tongue out at her. Urd's frown eventually disappeared, and she looked at Skuld with something akin to pride on her face. "So you've mastered blending, huh?"  
  
"She still needs to work on staying invisible despite her feelings," Lind said, looking pointedly at Skuld. "But she's making good progress."  
  
Urd's gaze moved from Skuld, to Lind, and back again. "Wait a sec. When you said you were on 'special assignment,' you don't mean . . ."  
  
Lind nodded. "I had accepted the role as Skuld's tutor for her elemental and stealth skills."  
  
Urd shifted uncomfortably. "But she's a sysop. She's not a battle goddess, is she?" Feelings of slight panic and protectiveness welled up her throat, as she knew about the harsh training battle gods have to undergo.  
  
"No. But her records depict that she is a valkyrie as well, and water is a wonderful attack element. She had just begun under my tutelage a few months ago," Lind answered. "She must be ready when she is needed."  
  
[Which I certainly hope won't be anytime in her lifetime,] Urd thought protectively, not wishing to see her innocent little sister move into battle to collect brave, albeit quite dead, warriors.  
  
She began to circle around her sister, one hand on her chin, as she inspected the young Norn from top to bottom. Skuld nervously looked at her, unconsciously drawing her arms around her chest, fearing another one of Urd's "Big Sister Bust Size Check." "W-what?" she asked.  
  
"You're still small."  
  
Skuld gave a minor facefault. "What?"  
  
"You're still small," Urd commented, holding her hand vertically near the top of her chest, which was Skuld's approximate height. "You haven't grown a bit."  
  
"I . . . I did, too!"  
  
"Yeah. About a few millimeters."  
  
"G-goddesses don't grow up very fast," Skuld muttered.  
  
"Indeed," Lind nodded.  
  
Skuld stared uncomfortably at the ground before looking at Urd once more. "How's Se- . . ." She caught herself before she said anything further. "How's onee-chan?"  
  
Urd slyly looked at her. "You don't need to pretend, you know."  
  
Skuld blushed furiously. "I just wanted to know, okay??" she defended.  
  
"Why don't you come and find out for yourself?"  
  
The young goddess blinked. "Huh?"  
  
"Kami-sama has been following your progress, and had decided to give you a small vacation," Lind informed Skuld, although she did not seem very pleased with the thought of "vacation". "He has asked your sister to come here and pick you up."  
  
"He . . . he did?" Skuld stammered, looking at Urd, who appeared quite irritated.  
  
"It's quite annoying, having to have you back and all even for just a few days . . ." Urd said. Her frown then changed to a lop-sided smile. "But I guess we'll have to bear with it."  
  
Urd watched as Skuld's face brightened, a huge grin on her face. "Really?!?"  
  
"Yes, he did! Now go pack whatever stuff you need before I leave you here!" Urd ordered, pointing her finger at the lake.  
  
Skuld made a beeline for the water. "Don't leave without me!" she shouted as she jumped in the lake, yet instead of getting wet, the water glowed and parted underneath her, enabling her to transport herself to wherever she wished.  
  
"Meet me here when you're ready to go!!" Urd shouted back before her sister disappeared into the water.   
  
Lind glanced at Urd, the eldest Norn still gazing at the spot where Skuld had transported. "It's only for a short while. Does she really need to pack?" Lind asked.  
  
"Nah. She'll probably just take her tools with her. She *does* usually bring them wherever she goes, right?" Urd inquired.  
  
"Occasionally. Not as much as she used to, though," Lind answered. She moved towards Urd's side.  
  
"She has grown, Urd," Lind said quietly. "Still childish, but her spirit has matured. She has learned much here."  
  
"But what of her Earth manifesto?" Urd asked, a hint of worry in her voice. "What of the people who have come to know her there? How will she be able to explain that she did not age a bit?"  
  
Lind shrugged. "Some mortals still look very young, even if they had aged. I'm quite sure they will understand."  
  
"I don't know." Urd looked skeptical. "Four years is a long time."  
  
"Not *too* long. Perhaps it is best that she does return now, before it gets too noticeable in the future."  
  
Urd nodded slowly. "Yes. Perhaps."  
  
Despite Lind's assurances, however, Urd remained greatly troubled as she patiently waited for her sister to return  
  
*****  
  
Taking out the same back pack that she had brought with her when she had first returned four years had passed, Skuld happily tossed her tools and various machine parts inside. Noble Scarlet, although her master was more powerful than when she was first released, still had a will of her own. She came out, beaming, and started to help Skuld with packing.  
  
Skuld grinned at Noble Scarlet as the small angel dropped something twice her size inside the bag. "I can't wait to see onee-sama again! And Sigel, and Banpei, and yes, even Keiichi! You want to see them too, don't you?" she asked her companion, happily sighing at the thought of being able to upgrade Banpei with the latest of what she learned in Yggdrasil technology.  
  
Noble Scarlet nodded vigorously.  
  
After making sure that Skuld's hammer was inside the bag – reduced to a tiny size, of course – Noble Scarlet closed it and tried to lift it up. Amused, Skuld leaned down to pick it up from the angel, a small white pearl escaping from the confines of her shirt's collar. Smiling gently, she slung the pack to her back and gripped the pearl in her hand as she closed her eyes.  
  
She felt a tiny hand being placed softly on her own. Opening her eyes once more, she glanced at her angel, who was looking at her warmly.  
  
"It's all your fault, you know," Skuld said jokingly. "We wouldn't have been *that* close then if it wasn't for you."   
  
The angel smiled sheepishly.  
  
"He . . . he probably has another set of friends there by now . . ." Skuld whispered, her grip on the pendant tightening, her thoughts filled with anxiety. [We haven't seen each other for four years! He's probably changed so much! What would he think of me?]  
  
[. . . Would he even remember me?]  
  
The tiny hand on hers momentarily squeezed.  
  
"Yes . . . he promised, didn't he, Noble Scarlet?" Skuld asked. "He promised he'll never forget me . . ."  
  
The tiny angel noted the doubt that was flickering on her master's face. She frowned at her, silently scolding Skuld for having so little faith in her mortal friend.  
  
Skuld laughed at Noble Scarlet, for even though the angel was pouting at her, she was still so cute! "I'm sorry. My fears are so misguided, aren't they?"  
  
Noble Scarlet gave one, quick nod, the frown still on her face. Skuld laugh once more, before taking the angel into her arms and hugging her close.  
  
"Thank you . . ." she whispered.  
  
Noble Scarlet was so small, she barely managed to reach her other hand as she wrapped her little arms around Skuld's neck. Still, the goddess was comforted by her touch, and was once more grateful that, even if she was too young, even if she couldn't control her, she still had her angel around.  
  
Skuld then released her angel and walked over to her table, where her notes and books laid scattered as she had left them the night before, studying for an "exam" at the goddess school that she had attended that morning. A pitcher and a glass of water lay on the top of the table, although they had been there mostly for practice purposes rather than for drinking. She touched the surface of the water in the glass and called out to her angel. "Come on, Noble Scarlet! We don't want Urd to leave us behind!"  
  
The angel flew towards her and disappeared as she had reached her master. Looking around her room once more to make sure that she had not forgotten anything, Skuld vanished into the water, carrying all hopes that her mortal friend still remembered her . . .  
  
. . . even if everything else has changed.  
  
  
  
Japanese words used:  
kami-sama – Almighty 


	6. Coming Home

Author's Notes:  
I particularly enjoyed writing this scene, so much that once again it became long enough to be a chapter by itself. This story is certainly growing longer than I thought it would be! I hope you will continue to read it up until the very end!  
  
Oh, "Hottokenai no Sa" was sung by Touma Yumi (Urd). You should listen to it if you haven't heard it yet. It's a really fun song.  
  
And Lind smiled in the final issue of her story arc!! My intuition was correct! Guess I won't have to change that particular scene after all! ^_^  
  
  
  
CHAPTER SIX: COMING HOME  
  
"I'll be right back . . ."  
  
Belldandy entered the kitchen and slid the shoji close. The smile she had on her lips disappeared as she held the tray she had been carrying close to her. A diamond ring – small so it would fit with Keiichi's budget, but overwhelmingly full of his love – twinkled as the last remaining rays of the sun shone on her finger, yet no matter how much she looked at it, she couldn't bring herself to lighten up her downcast mood.  
  
True, she was very happy when Keiichi had finally asked her hand in marriage. There was a time when Belldandy worried that the heavens would object to their engagement, but nothing has happened for the past few weeks, so Urd had managed to convince her to set her worries aside.  
  
"If Kami-sama was going to protest, he would have done it the moment Keiichi had placed the ring on your finger!" Urd had told her. "So relax and enjoy the fact that you're finally engaged!"  
  
Belldandy bit her lip as an image of her older sister crossed her mind. "Onee-san . . ."  
  
The feeling of emptiness that had been tugging at her since her sister had left finally overcame her, and she struggled hard to prevent her tears from falling.  
  
Behind the closed doors of the kitchen were the sounds of people holding a party. All of Keiichi and Belldandy's friends were there, celebrating their impending marriage. The former members of the Motor Club had been passing around bottles of sake for the past few hours, as most of the visitors had gathered around the karaoke machine that Ootaki and Tamiya had brought with them, filling the house with songs of drunken happiness.  
  
Even Keiichi's parents were out there, with Morisato Keima keeping close to the only two women who kept him quite in control of himself, while steering clear of all the others, particularly Fujimi Chihiro, who was quite intrigued with Keiichi's father. His wife Takano had enticed some of the visitors to a game of mahjong, and from the looks of it she hasn't lost a game yet, judging from the looks of the other players. And Keiichi's younger sister Megumi was chatting with a group of motorcycle enthusiasts . . .  
  
. . . and then Hasegawa Sora suddenly asked where Belldandy's family was . . .  
  
While her fiancé was surrounded by his family and friends, Belldandy was alone.  
  
She shook her head. Keiichi's friends were *her* friends, and his family were *her* family.  
  
Still, she could not help but wonder what the day would have been like if her sisters were there.  
  
When Skuld had left four years ago, the temple was suddenly, uncomfortably, quiet. Even the sounds of Sigel being chased around by Banpei couldn't cover the silence. The number of times Keiichi and Belldandy had to repair Banpei as a result of one of their chases had only served to remind them of who was missing among them.  
  
It took months before they had adjusted to Skuld's absence. By then, Urd began to make enough noise to cover her little sister. Belldandy always had to be on guard, as her older sister reverted back to the habit of harassing Keiichi by the hour as she had done before Skuld had joined them. Thankfully, the demon Mara had laid quiet for all those years, and their only real troubles came from Urd's mother Hild, who decided to grant her daughter the occasional visit, resulting to the small amounts of chaos in the temple that normally would have been caused by two sisters fighting each other, with poor Keiichi somehow always getting stuck in the middle at times.  
  
Now even Urd had been sent back home.  
  
As a goddess, Belldandy had a right to visit them, as she and Urd had been doing every once in a while whenever they wished to see Skuld. But visiting was different from actually being with them every day, and since she was about to marry a mortal, Belldandy was not sure she would be able to visit them at all.  
  
[ Is this my punishment? That I have to choose between the man and the family that I both love? ] Belldandy thought.  
  
The shoji behind her slid open without her noticing, and Keiichi entered, looking for his fiancée. Upon seeing her standing there just in front of the wooden door, trying to find solace by hugging a tray, he made his way towards her and held her shoulder.  
  
Belldandy turned around and leaned against him, seeking the comfort that only he could give. Keiichi in turn wrapped his arms around her, supporting her frame as she quietly cried.  
  
"I . . . I'm sorry . . ." Belldandy said moments later as she wiped her tears from her eyes. "They have gone through so much effort to hold this party for us, and I'm supposed to be happy . . . but . . ."  
  
Keiichi smiled warmly. "I understand. Urd's departure had been very hard for you."  
  
"I know that they seem to have brought you so much trouble . . . but . . . Keiichi, am I selfish for wanting my sisters to be here?"  
  
"No," Keiichi answered, shaking his head. "They've been with us for so long, it's hard to imagine life without them. Even for me . . . they're my family, too, Bell-chan. I want them to be here to celebrate with us just as much as you do."  
  
He held her closer. "I . . . I know you cannot make promises you can't keep. But at least . . . promise me . . . that you'll *try* not to leave me, too . . ."  
  
"Keiichi . . ."  
  
"Even if they don't come back . . . we'll find a way to fill in the gap that they've left. We'll create so much happiness that they wouldn't be sorely missed! Just . . . stay with me. Don't leave me . . ."  
  
"Keiichi, I have promised that I would stay with you for as long as you wished ever since we had created that contract many years ago . . . the fact that I had answered yes to your proposal would serve to bring that promise to a higher level, for even marriages are sacred in heaven . . ." Belldandy reached out and placed the tray that she had been holding on a nearby table before embracing Keiichi in return. "We have gone through so much . . . No matter what happens, I will always find a way to return to you, just as I know that you will always be there for me, waiting. I love you, Keiichi."  
  
Keiichi felt relieved, grateful that he had voiced out his fears. "I love you, too . . ." His head inched closer to hers as she looked up, prepared to receive his kiss . . .  
  
"WHAT IN THE WORLD . . . !!!"  
  
The sound of Tamiya's booming voice broke the intimate moment between the couple, and they both sighed. "They must be wondering why the food is taking too long," Belldandy said, blushing.  
  
"We should hurry then," Keiichi said, his hold on her loosening for a moment.  
  
Before Belldandy could move, however, Keiichi leaned over and kissed her anyway.  
  
[ I don't have any excuse not to kiss her anymore . . . ] Keiichi thought as he slowly pulled away.  
  
Belldandy smiled brilliantly. Keiichi watched as she began to hum a song while piling delicacies on the tray.  
  
[ Besides. I like it better when she's happy, and it's probably one of the very few things a mortal can grant a goddess. ]  
  
"Shall we?" Belldandy asked, carrying a fresh new batch of munchies for the visitors to eat. Her fiancé nodded, and they walked out of the kitchen together, prepared to face the rowdy bunch of people that were their friends.  
  
*****  
  
Keiichi was lucky he was not carrying the tray of food, because if he did, he would have mostly likely dropped it.  
  
Almost everyone who was in the living room was now staring at the TV screen where those who had been singing had been following the lyrics to the karaoke that they were playing. To Keiichi and Belldandy's surprise (and to Keiichi's horror), Urd was right there on the screen, staring right back!  
  
"Oh . . . uh . . . umm . . ." Urd stammered as she tried to think of a way out of her current situation. "Th – this is a pre-recording from the Goddess Musical Productions, providing you with . . . with lovely, easy-to-follow karaoke selections that would make a singer even out of the most tone-deaf person! In this disc, we had decided to provide you with one extra song for all of you to sing along with! So ladies and gentlemen, let me present to you our lovely guest karaoke singer, which is myself, of course, here to sing 'Hottokenai no Sa'!!"  
  
While the rest of the guests inside the room applauded and started to sing, with Tamiya and Ootaki flipping the disc jacket around, wondering why this was the first time they had ever seen this track and how they would be able to access it again, Keiichi slapped a palm on his face. "I don't believe this . . ." he muttered. "That was too close!"  
  
"I'm sorry, Keiichi . . ." Belldandy told him.  
  
Keiichi looked at her. The goddess looked very sorry for what happened, but there was an ecstatic twinkle in her eyes – a joy, Keiichi was sure, that had been brought about by the knowledge that her sister's departure was not for good.  
  
"It's nothing. That's our Urd, all right! Always finding a way to make a grand entrance in any event!" Keiichi said with a smile. In a way, he too, was relieved that Urd had returned. [ She's certainly enjoying herself, considering that she could have gotten us into big trouble, ] he thought, watching as Urd was singing all out on the television screen. [ I wonder how she'll be able to take them 'back to regular programming'? ]  
  
"Hey, hey, hey, look who I found!!" Megumi suddenly said, appearing in the hallway behind Keiichi and Belldandy. She looked quite flushed with the amounts of sake that she had been drinking . . .  
  
Megumi pushed a bewildered black-haired girl into the room, and everyone suddenly found something else to ogle about. As everyone's attention was diverted, Urd started waving around in the television screen in an attempt to bring her audience back to her.  
  
"Keiichi! You never told us you already had a child!! No wonder you wanted to get married!!" Chiharu gasped.  
  
"She's NOT my child!!!" Keiichi yelled.  
  
"Oh, really? Then . . . hey Belldandy, you never told us there was someone younger than Skuld!" Megumi said as she shakily returned to her seat on the floor beside her father. "Why don't you join the party, kid? It's a party for everyone!"  
  
"Aww, look, she's so cute! She looks just like your younger sister!" Takano said, looking quite drunk herself.  
  
Belldandy didn't answer. She couldn't. As Keiichi looked at her once more, he saw that she had covered her mouth with her hand in shock, and he was sure that there was a huge smile behind that hand as her eyes were filled with tears. The only thing that was stopping her from hugging her little sister was the tray in her other hand, so Keiichi reached out and took it from her. Belldandy gave him a grateful glance and, as he predicted, took a couple of steps towards Skuld and enveloped her in a warm embrace.  
  
Skuld was not very happy. Four years later, and still everyone thought she was just a kid!! Her hands clenched tightly into a fist as she resisted the urge to throw a fit – she had to have learned *some* control during those years she had been gone. The moment Belldandy hugged her, however, she felt just like a child, and for some reason tears fell from her eyes as well.  
  
Urd took this time to sneak out of the screen as everyone watched the small reunion.  
  
After a while, Belldandy finally moved back and looked at Skuld. "Tadaima . . ." Skuld told her, smiling.  
  
Belldandy nodded, beaming. "O-kaeri nasai."  
  
"Ne, ne, Belldandy-sempai, what's her name?" Sora asked.  
  
"Jeez, don't you recognize her?" Urd said, suddenly appearing behind Keiichi. He tried to catch her gaze, but she avoided them, as if she was guilty of something.   
  
[ Oh oh . . . ] Keiichi thought.  
  
"She *is* Skuld. I picked her up this morning. She's on vacation, and she's staying for a short while," Urd continued.  
  
"N-no way . . ." Sora muttered.  
  
"She's your youngest sister?? The darling little child who didn't know how to play mahjong?" Takano asked. Skuld made a face as she heard the word "child".  
  
"B-but she hasn't grown a BIT!!!" Megumi exclaimed.  
  
"I DID, TOO!!!" Skuld finally yelled.  
  
Keiichi's head began to hurt as they were faced with yet another problem. [ How are we going to explain this to them now? ]  
  
Fortunately for him, he did not need to explain anything. All the visitors pretty much deduced everything by themselves:  
  
"She still looks so young!"  
"Maybe she hasn't gotten rid of her baby fat yet?"  
"How old is she anyway?"  
"Should be around 16 to 18 or so, right?"  
"Hey, maybe it's with the genes!"  
"You're right! Look, even Belldandy and Urd did not seem to have grown older either!"  
"Yep, that must be it!"  
"They're so lucky! They don't seem to age so easily!"  
"I don't know – Urd looks old enough to be my mother."  
- laughter -  
  
Keiichi sighed with relief. [ Thank goodness they're all drunk!! ]  
  
In the meantime, after hearing the less-than-discreet conversation, Urd gritted her teeth, small sparks emanating from her tightly clenched fists. [ All right, you . . . !!! You're going to *get* it later!!! ]  
  
"Hey, Urd, you didn't tell us that you were producing karaoke videos!"  
"Yeah, how do you get it to come out again?"  
"We were not able to finish it!"  
  
Temporarily forgetting her anger, Urd jumped up to the makeshift stage and grabbed the mike. "Why look for that track when you can have the real thing?!? Now that Urd the Magnificent is here, the party has *really* begun!!! Alright, everybody, let's go for another round!!"  
  
Everyone cheered.  
  
"Skuld, it's so great to have you back! C'mon, join us!" Sora said, pulling a protesting Skuld with her towards the low table.  
  
Belldandy allowed her eyes to wander, the site of both her sisters present inside the room filling her heart with happiness. She instantly regretted having ever doubted the Almighty. "Thank you . . ." she whispered.  
  
"What?" Keiichi asked, looking at his fiancée.  
  
Belldandy shook her head. "I was just thanking him," she said.  
  
"Oh. The entire night turned out great after all, huh?"  
  
The middle Norn nodded happily.  
  
"Here, I'll take care of the food. You go ahead and enjoy the party, okay?" Keiichi said.  
  
"Are you sure?"  
  
Her fiancé nodded before giving her a peck on her cheek. "Go on."  
  
"Thank you, Keiichi . . ."  
  
"Belldandy dear, come sit over here!" Keiichi's mother called.  
  
Nodding, Belldandy walked over to the low square table that served as the mahjong table for the past few hours. "Would you like anything, Takano-san?" Belldandy asked.  
  
"You've been working so hard the entire day, dear, that it's about time Keiichi took over. Just sit down and have a chat with your friends and your future mother-in-law."  
  
Skuld's head snapped towards their direction as she distinctly heard the word "mother-in-law".  
  
"So what's your secret, Belldandy? How do you and your sisters manage to look so young despite your ages?" Takano asked. All the other girls, much to Keima's distress (who was sitting as close to his wife as he possibly could), began to gather around them as they strived to hear the secrets for attaining a youthful look.  
  
"Eh?"  
  
"How many times a day do you put astringent on?"  
"Do you place a mud pack every night?"  
"What about wrinkles?"  
  
Belldandy blinked at the sudden barrage of questions. "But . . . we don't really do anything."  
  
"Really?"  
"You mean it really *does* have something to do with your genes?"  
"Are you sure?"  
"How lucky!!"  
"I wonder if it's possible to get a genetic implant or something . . ."  
  
"C'mon, Belldandy! We'll be family soon! You could at least tell me, right?" Megumi asked.  
  
"Hey!"  
"That's so unfair, Megumi!"  
"You can't hog everything to yourself just because she's going to be your sister-in-law . . ."  
  
Skuld suddenly stood up.  
  
Shocked, the people gathered around the table turned to look at her. Skuld looked at them momentarily, before bowing in apology. "I – I'm sorry. I just arrived, so I have some unpacking to do . . ." She then ran out of the living room, bumping into Keiichi in the process.  
  
"Hey, be careful!" Keiichi told her as he recovered the thankfully empty tray from the floor.  
  
The young goddess stared at him for a few moments, her face expressionless, before walking away.  
  
"What happened?" Keiichi asked as Belldandy stood to a stop in front of him.  
  
"She didn't know . . ." Belldandy answered. "I forgot to tell her. She didn't know, and she found out from the worst possible way."  
  
*****  
  
After picking up her backpack from the bathroom where she had dropped it, Skuld had started to proceed to her old laboratory, but her hands stopped just as she was about to slide the shoji open. *Was* this still her laboratory? After all, she had been gone for four years, so they must have changed it already.  
  
Placing her bag next to her, Skuld sat on the wooden porch leading out to the backyard. The noise in the living room at the front of the house had been partly muffled by the closed shojis, so she was able to find some peace and a small amount of quiet from her location.  
  
The sun had already set for quite some time, and purple and blue hues enveloped the twilight sky. Bright stars have begun to appear – stars that never seemed to have changed for millions of years.  
  
Yet Skuld knew that in places were there was no bright light, a new star was already born there, hundreds of light years away, it's light still out of view from the Earth. And that in places were there was a star to the human eye was now in reality darkness, a darkness of which was waiting to be discovered as well.  
  
[ Everything changes . . . ] Skuld thought. [ I know that. When I come back here, I can't expect everything to stay the way I remember them. ]  
  
[ So why had I suddenly ran out of the room? ]  
  
She sighed as she stood up. Spotting a pair of slippers on the stone step leading to the grounds, she slipped her socks into them. [ I might as well check on Banpei and Sigel. I can't do anything until I've asked them where I'm going to be dropping my things, and I'm not in any hurry to go back to the living room. ]  
  
"Skuld, wait!"  
  
The young goddess turned around and saw her older sister standing at the corridor leading to the porch. She gave Belldandy a small smile. "Hi."  
  
Relieved that her sister was not going to run away, Belldandy approached Skuld, sitting beside the place where the youngest Norn stood. "Skuld . . ." she began.  
  
"I'm sorry," Skuld suddenly said.  
  
Belldandy looked surprised at Skuld's sudden outburst. She was the one who was supposed to apologize, not her little sister.  
  
"I've barely been here for ten minutes, and then I acted all bratty again," Skuld continued, refusing to meet her sister's gaze. "No wonder they all think that I'm still a kid."  
  
"Oh, Skuld, they think you're a child because you look that way." [ Even if, up in the heavens, you *are* still considered a young girl in their eyes. ]   
  
"Still, I shouldn't have run out like I did. I'm sorry."  
  
Belldandy shook her head. She patted the wooden floor beside her, inviting Skuld to sit next to her. "I'm the one who should be sorry. I am your sister, and you deserved to hear the news from me, and not from another person," she said as Skuld sat down.  
  
"You're . . . you're really doing it, aren't you? You're going to marry him."  
  
"I love him," Belldandy answered.  
  
Skuld remained silent.  
  
"Are you . . . still against him?"  
  
The youngest Norn shrugged.  
  
"Skuld . . ."  
  
"It's still a huge shock for me," Skuld finally said. "I know that things will be different. Four years is a long time. Yet a part of me still wishes that everything would be the same as before . . ."  
  
Belldandy wrapped her arms around her. "Skuld, knowing that things have changed is different from accepting them, and even then not everything could be altered by the decisions we make. Just because Keiichi and I have decided to get married, it does not mean that everything else will have to change. You're still my little sister."  
  
Skuld sighed. "I know."  
  
"So . . . do you still hate Keiichi?"  
  
The truth was, Skuld had nothing against Keiichi. At least, she had grown to like him during the past few years that she had been a member of the Morisato household. It was her love for her elder sister, bordering on over-protectiveness, which made her dislike him. She didn't wish to see Belldandy hurt by any mortal *nor* god . . . and she had a feeling that even if Belldandy had fallen for any immortal being, Skuld still would have objected to their relationship.  
  
Skuld stood up.  
  
"Where are you going?" Belldandy asked.  
  
"To Banpei and Sigel. I'm going to be doing some upgrades." Skuld finally looked into her sister's blue eyes. "If Keiichi ever becomes unfaithful to you or makes you cry, he'll be sorry!!"  
  
Belldandy smiled.  
  
*****  
  
[ Ahh . . . peace and quiet . . . ] Keiichi happily thought as he walked towards his room. All the visitors had finally left after half a day of partying, the drinking somewhat toning down near the end so that everyone would be sober enough to go home. The sisters were unpacking the few things Skuld had brought with her in Skuld's old laboratory, which Keiichi had turned into his own laboratory after she had left, so not much had really changed. If anything, Keiichi would dare say that everything was back the way they were before.  
  
"Ah, no, Urd, don't drop that . . . !!"  
  
Keiichi winced as he heard a small crash inside the laboratory, which resulted in a fury exchange of words between Urd and Skuld. "Yep, everything is back to normal," Keiichi told himself.  
  
Upon entering his room, Keiichi was greeted with the site of his brand new color television, smashed on the floor.  
  
Then he remembered Urd's guilty look . . .  
  
"URD!! What happened to my TV!!!" he yelled, running towards the laboratory.  
  
"It kind of fell while I was getting out of it earlier . . ."  
"Aaargh!!"  
"Keiichi, I'm sure Skuld would be able to fix it for you . . ."  
"Yeah, why don't you get her to fix it?"  
"Why do *I* always have to pick up after the mess you've made?!"  
  
Welsper, the resident cat (who was coincidentally a demon) of the Morisato household, shook his head as he listened to the noise inside the temple. Rolling his eyes, he covered his ears with his paws and tried to get some sleep despite the racket.  
  
[ Here we go again!! ]  
  
  
  
Japanese words used:  
kami-sama – Almighty  
o-kaeri nasai – Welcome home/back  
onee-san – big sister  
shoji – sliding panel door  
tadaima – I'm home 


	7. Fears

Disclaimer:  
Ah! Megami-sama belongs to Kosuke Fujishima and all the other companies that own copyrights to the manga/anime. None of this, except this fic, belongs to me.

Author's Notes:  
I'm really, really sorry for the long hiatus when updating this fic. I can't tell you just how many times I lost this chapter due to my negligence of maintaining my palmtop's batteries...

I can't guarantee that I will be updating as often as I used to, as the newly graduated bum who had started this fanfic now has a job to prioritize. But I will continue to upload new chapters when they arrive. Hopefully it wouldn't take as long as the two long years that it took for me to come up with this chapter.

To those who wrote to me, asking me to continue this fic, thank you very much. I shall do my best to meet your wishes.

* * *

CHAPTER SEVEN: FEARS 

For Skuld, there was something not quite right that morning.

Her pillow was a little lumpy, and her bed was not as soft as she remembered it be.

Shaking the feeling off, she turned over, eyes still closed, determined to savor every minute granted to her by sleeping before one of the elders work her up for training . . .

"Skuld . . ."

The youngest Norn frowned. The voice sounded a lot younger than what she had expected. / _Bug problem again?_ / Skuld inwardly sighed. She may be a goddess in training, but due to her debugging skills, she also had one section of Yggdrasil to watch over alongside her studies.

"Have you tried using the debugging program I made? That should be enough for minor cases . . ." Skuld mumbled almost incoherently, her mind still being gently swayed by the Sleep Demon.

She then heard a soft chuckle coming from the voice, along with the sound of someone leaving. Satisfied that there was no one left to bother her, she snuggled closer to her pillows and tried to go back to sleep . . .

. . . until the sound of a television tuned up to what was probably its highest volume interrupted her once again.

Skuld tried to drown out the noise by covering her head with her blankets, but it just didn't work. Finally, she sat up on her bed, looking incredibly irritated. "Would you mind turning the volume down!" she shouted irritably.

/ _Wait a minute. Television . . . ?_ /

"Urd! Skuld is still sleeping - you'll wake her up!" said the voice that Skuld had heard earlier.

"She needs to get up anyway! Otherwise she'll be sleeping the entire morning through!"

/ _Of course! I'm not in Asgard anymore!_ / Skuld finally realized, her senses now fully awake. She looked around the room she was in, bewildered at first, yet as she began to bask at the familiarity of her surroundings, a brilliant smile slowly surfaced on her lips.

She quickly stood up from her futon, and in her rush, her legs got tangled into her blanket, making her slip and fall. The yelp that she had made, accompanied by the sounds of a crash, caught the attention of Belldandy and Urd, which made them quickly run towards their little sister's room.

"Oh, dear!" Belldandy exclaimed as she saw Skuld sprawled out on the tatami mat. She rushed towards her sister's aid while Urd laughed heartily.

"Looks like somebody is still asleep!" Urd said teasingly as she watched her little sister stand up.

Skuld, rubbing her sore elbow, was in too much of a good mood to think up of a good retort. Deciding to settle on giving her eldest sister the best glare that she could muster, she then turned to look at Belldandy and said, "I'm fine."

Belldandy sighed in relief and smiled. "That's good. Do you feel like joining us for breakfast now?"

Skuld nodded, and the three sisters moved towards the living room, where they all settled down to eat.

"Where's Keiichi?" Skuld asked as Belldandy handed her a bowlful of rice.

Urd, who was conveniently flipping through the channels on the television with the use of her powers, answered her. "He went to work, silly!"

"This early? On a Saturday?"

"The Whirlwind has been quite successful and has grown considerably. Chiharu-san and Keiichi have had their hands full for the past few months," Belldandy said, happily sipping her tea.

"Sometimes he even brings work home with him," Urd added, finally settling down with one channel before touching the slightly eaten food in front of her.

Belldandy slightly frowned. "I do wish that he would not have to work when its time to rest, but I suppose it can't be helped, so we assist him whenever we can."

Skuld nodded. Even before she left, the three sisters, led by Belldandy, always made sure that Keiichi did not overwork himself to death.

"Which reminds me! I'm going to be doing some groceries later today - the party yesterday had depleted our food supply. Would you like to come?" Belldandy asked Skuld, a sweet smile back on her face.

The youngest Norn nodded once more, eager to set out on the road with her bike again, which she had left locked at the shed. "Sure! I'll just have to make sure my bike is not badly rusted or anything."

"Keiichi had been maintaining it for you, so you shouldn't worry about that," Urd informed her. "But don't you have any other plans for the day?"

"Not really . . ." Skuld said, looking at her lap. In truth, she had the urge to call Sentaro on the phone, but what would she say?

/ _"Hi! Remember me? Your best friend who left you four years ago? Well, guess what? I'm back!" That sounded pretty stupid . . ._ / Skuld thought.

She noticed that her sisters were thoughtfully looking at her. "W-what?" she asked.

Urd shrugged before turning back to the television. "You only have a week, kid. And it starts now."

"I'm not a kid," Skuld automatically replied, her voice a little disheartened. / _I almost forgot that I have a time limit . . ._ /

Belldandy took out a piece of cloth and started to wipe her side of the table clean. "You know, Skuld . . . sometimes it's better to try than not to try at all," she gently advised.

There was a considerable silence after that.

* * *

A few hours later, Skuld paced in front of the telephone. Noble Scarlet, which she had released minutes earlier, floated near the device, watching as her master walked to and fro. / _C'mon, Skuld! What harm would it do if you just call and see how he's doing?_ / Skuld chided herself. But she just couldn't bring herself to pick up the receiver. 

Skuld paused in front of it, and reached out, hand shaking. As soon as she had touched the smooth surface, however, she quickly withdrew her hand as if she was burned. / _For Kami-sama's sake, Skuld! What are you afraid of!_ /

/ _. . . what . . . -am- I afraid of?_ /

She sank down to the wooden floor and leaned her head against the wall. "Many things . . ." Skuld muttered to herself after a long pause.

Noble Scarlet tilted her head slightly to the side, as if she was silently asking her master, "What?"

"Like if he still remembers me. Oh, I know we had the same discussion before," Skuld told her angel as the little cherub looked at her disapprovingly. "He probably would, since Keiichi's friends and family did, and they had been drunk, to boot! But there are others. Like even if he -does- remember me, would he still welcome me? Will his new friends will? Or will I just feel out of place? Will I just be a 'has-been'? Someone from his past who doesn't have a place in his present? I don't think . . ." Skuld began to falter. ". . . I don't think I can handle that."

Noble Scarlet sighed, before picking up the phone and lifting it over to her master's side. She lifted the receiver and tried shoving it into Skuld's hand.

"Persistent, aren't you?" Skuld asked. / _My other half . . ._ /

The other angel gave her an encouraging look, and Skuld knew what she had meant: "Like Belldandy onee-sama said, you'll never know unless you try. Besides, when will you have another chance?"

Skuld hesitated, but she finally nodded. She took the receiver from Noble Scarlet, and began to dial. /_ Let's just hope that he hasn't changed phone numbers over the years,_ / she thought, crossing her fingers.

She had a sudden urge to break the line as soon as the phone started ringing on the other end, but her angel was watching her so intently, she could have sworn the little cherub would try to stop her if she attempted it, even if it was against Skuld's wishes. / _You know, you never -had- lost your stubbornness,_ / Skuld thought as she stared at Noble Scarlet.

Somebody picked up the line on the other side. Skuld's heart skipped a beat.

"Moshi-moshi? Kawanishi des," came the familiar voice of Sentaro's mother.

Skuld didn't know whether she should be disappointed or relieved. "K-konnichiwa. May I speak to Sentaro, please?" she said before she totally lost her courage.

"Sentaro? I'm sorry dear - he's at school today. May I know who this is?"

/ _School? Why would he be in school?_ / "Just please tell him that . . . Skuld . . . called . . ." Skuld said, still quite undecided as to how she felt after hearing that he was not at home. / _Terrific. I don't have the guts to call him again after this!_ /

"Of course I will, dear. That's Skuld . . ." There was a pause as Sentaro's mother wrote her name down on a piece of paper Skuld knew was lying beside the phone.

Her heart sank. His mother did not remember her!

"Any message you would like to leave?" Sentaro's mother asked.

"Nothing, really. Just tell him I said hi," Skuld answered in a slightly subdued tone.

"Are you sure? He hasn't seen you for a long time, dear. I'm sure he would like to hear a lot from you."

Skuld's eyes widened, and her jaw dropped open. There was quite a long pause as she held the phone, speechless.

"You thought I had forgotten, haven't you, dear?" Sentaro's mother laughed on the other line. "This old lady isn't that old yet!"

Skuld smiled, and for some odd reason, she felt something burning at the back of her eyes. It was only a short while later, as Noble Scarlet reached out to wipe them, had she realized that they were tears. "Kawanishi-san . . ."

"How have you been? Is this a long distance call?"

"N-no. I just got back yesterday," Skuld said happily, while at the same time trying to stop her voice from shivering with emotion.

"That's great! My son would be happy to hear that!"

"I'm only here for a week, though."

"Even a single day would have been enough, considering that we haven't seen you for years! You have to come here to the house while you're still here - I'll prepare a nice little feast for you."

Skuld closed her eyes. "Thank you . . ."

She could almost imagine Sentaro's mother smiling on the other side. "You're always welcome. You may want to visit Sentaro at Kimitsu, though. There's a bike race going on, and he's in it."

/ _Bike race again, huh? I should have known._ / "I'll try. Thank you so much, Kawanishi-san!"

"I hope to see you soon!"

"Me, too. Sayonara!"

After Sentaro's mother had said goodbye, Skuld laid the receiver on its cradle and looked at Noble Scarlet. The angel was giving her a triumphant smile, as if saying, "See? That went well!"

"You're right," Skuld whispered. "You're absolutely right."

She bent her head down and bit her lip. Skuld couldn't understand it; she couldn't fathom why, but when Noble Scarlet had laid a hand on her shoulder, her tears started to fall in earnest. / _I can't believe this . . . I'm turning into Belldandy onee-sama . . ._ / she thought as she tried to hold herself back.

Urd, who had been watching television at the living room nearby, cautiously slid the shoji just a crack so that she could peek at her sister. Upon seeing Noble Scarlet trying to comfort Skuld by patting her on the head with a sheepish grin on her face, Urd understood what happened, and went back to watching her show with a smile.

* * *

Belldandy had decided to do her groceries just after lunch. Taking their bikes with them, she and her younger sister pedaled their way downtown, where she showed Skuld the new buildings that had been erected; the new parks that had been built; and the new shops that had appeared since her absence four years had past. After passing by an electronics store, where Skuld bought the parts she would need to fix the television Urd broke, they went to the supermarket, where Belldandy began to re-supply their food stock, adding some ingredients she could use to bake up some sweets, all in order to spoil her sister. 

As they took their sweet time shopping, the elder Norn noted the smile on Skuld's face with satisfaction. The younger goddess happily chatted about Asgard, of the things she had learned and the spells that she could now cast. Belldandy listened with rapt attention, proud of her sister's achievements, interested with the progress she continued to make, and curious of the bond she had made with Lind as her mentor.

But Skuld's enthusiasm did not last for long. On their way home, their bikes heavily laden with bags full of the items they had bought, Belldandy noticed that she had grown silent, and had been pedaling with a bothered look on her face.

"Skuld?"

Skuld raised her head, startled. She turned to look at Belldandy, who was gliding beside her. "Hmm?"

Her elder sister gazed at her with concern, but then suddenly she softly smiled, as if she had realized something. "Would you like to go some place before going home?" she asked.

Skuld gawked at sister with disbelief registered all over her features. / _How does she do that?_ / she thought, wondering about her sister's empathic senses.

"Just lead the way," Belldandy gently coerced, not quite sure of where her sister would take her, but still trusting her instincts anyway. She felt Skuld's inner turmoil, and knew that a little push might help her solve it.

The youngest Norn bit her lip. She felt that she wanted to go to Sentaro's school, but she was terrified at the concept of meeting him face to face. / _Maybe . . . a trip to the ice cream parlor is in order . . . ?_ / she thought.

She once more glanced at her sister's encouraging look.

/ _. . . or maybe I should stop lying to myself instead._ /

"Ne, onee-sama," Skuld finally said, turning away so that her sister would not have to see her face, which was burning red. "I . . . haven't seen a bike race for a long time. Would you mind if we stop by Se- . . . uhh . . . Kimitsu High School before going home?"

Belldandy's smile widened. "Not at all, dear."

Skuld grinned.

* * *

When they got to the school Sentaro attended, they saw that the race was already over. Many of the spectators - most of them students - had already left the racetrack that had been built on the empty lot beside the school, and had surrounded the tents where the contestants lounged. 

Skuld noted the motorcycles that laid beside the tracks. / _Has Sentaro-kun shifted to motorcycles . . . ?_ / she thought, feeling as if she was attending one of Keiichi's old races as she and her elder sister approached the field, pushing their bicycles (with the shopping bags) alongside them.

A few meters away from the crowd, Skuld paused. The knowledge that Sentaro was now competing with -motorcycles- overwhelmed her, causing her courage to fail her once more. "Well, the race is over. Maybe we should go . . . ?" she mumbled, turning her head away from her elder sister.

"Skuld . . ." Belldandy began. She then paused, rearranging her thoughts, before speaking once more. "Have you tried blending?"

"Huh?" Skuld asked, looking at her. Whatever she had expected her to say, that question definitely was not among them.

"Blending with your surroundings. Camouflage," Belldandy clarified. "Have you tried it?"

Her sister nodded. "That was the last Lind taught me before Urd picked me up," Skuld answered, confused. / _Is she asking me to blend so I could sneak up past the crowd . . . !_ /

"Was it hard to learn?" Belldandy continued.

"Y-yes."

"How long did it take you to master?"

Skuld stared at the ground. "I haven't mastered it yet. And it has been three weeks . . ."

"Have you given up?"

"Even if I did, Lind wouldn't let me."

Belldandy nodded patiently. "But has the thought of stopping dawned on you, especially after you couldn't do it the first few times?"

The youngest Norn shook her head. "If I gave up before I've even actually begun, then I wouldn't have . . . achieved . . . anything . . ." Skuld said the last few words slowly, finally understanding what her sister was trying to tell her.

"Good," Belldandy said, smiling brightly. "You still remember then."

/ _"If you give up, all possibilities are lost."_ /

Skuld recalled Belldandy's words, so many years had passed.

/ _"Remember how hard you worked to ride the bicycle . . . ?"_ /

A smile began to appear on Skuld's face. "You're right . . ." she said softly.

"Excuse me . . ."

Belldandy and Skuld turned around and saw an unfamiliar, tall young man standing behind them. His fine, dark brown hair covered small eyes that were so chinky, one would have thought his eyes were always closed. His slightly disshelved look, along with his dirty coveralls and the helmet he held suggested that he had been one of the contestants during the event.

He smiled at them. "I haven't seen you around here before. Are you here to meet the other racers?"

"We're . . . uhh . . . looking for . . . for Kawanishi Sentaro," Skuld said haltingly, feeling her face burning up once more. "Is he still here?"

The teenager's eyes widened slightly in surprise - it was only then when Belldandy and Skuld saw that his eyes were blue. "Sentaro doesn't participate in the dirt bike competition," he informed them.

"Oh . . ." Skuld said, slightly disappointed. / _Well, chalk up another close call for the day._ / She could feel her sister's gaze at her.

"But he should be around here somewhere. I could take you to him if you want," the young man continued, smiling once more.

Skuld's own eyes widened, while Belldandy beamed. "That's really so nice of you," she said, thanking him.

The young man rubbed the back of his head with his free hand. "It's nothing, ma'am. Sentaro's one of my good friends. Oh, wait, I'm being rude." He bowed slightly in front of them. "My name is Matsukiko Kyosuke."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Matsukiko-san," Belldandy said as she and her sister bowed as well. "I'm Belldandy, and this is my sister Skuld."

"H-hi," Skuld stammered, waving her hand slightly.

Kyosuke's eyebrows rose, grinning as he looked at her. "Konnichiwa," he told her. "So, shall we go?"

"Perhaps I could just stay here and guard the bicycles while the both of you go through that crowd?" Belldandy offered, reaching out to balance Skuld's bike with her free hand.

Skuld turned her head towards her, worry creasing her face. She felt brave enough to face Sentaro -with- Belldandy, not -without- her! "But onee-sama . . .!" she began to protest.

Once more, Belldandy gave her an encouraging look. "You'll do fine," she assured her younger sister.

Kyosuke laughed slightly. "Don't worry - I'll take care of you," he said, taking off his gloves and offering his free hand to Skuld. "Shall we?"

Skuld stared at his hand, hesitating. But he looked so friendly, and it seemed that Belldandy trusted him enough to allow him to take her to Sentaro by himself. / _Of course . . . onee-sama trusts -everybody- and -anybody- . . ._ / Skuld thought, looking at her sister.

Taking a deep breath, she took his hand, and together they began to weave their way through the crowd, leaving Belldandy behind.

"Good luck . . ." the middle Norn whispered, pushing a few strands of her hair behind her ears as the wind blew against her.

* * *

Since he was one of the racers himself, the people gave Kyosuke space, his hand tightly grasping Skuld's as they made their way through the assembly. Some of the students patted him on his back. / _He must have won_/ Skuld assumed. 

"So, you're Sentaro's friend?" she heard him ask her. And although he probably couldn't see her, she nodded.

"I . . . to ad . . . I wa . . . to . . . out . . . at you're Skuld," he continued, his voice drowning underneath the noise. Finally, they made it to the front, where Kyosuke momentarily caught his breath before smiling at her once more. "I was expecting someone a little older."

While Skuld stared at him, her head tilted, wondering what he could have meant, a group of screaming girls - / _His fan club_/ Skuld thought distastefully - suddenly replaced the crowd, and they found themselves surrounded once more.

"Kyosuke-kun, you were great!"

"Matsukiko-sempai, can I have your autograph please?"

Kyosuke turned slightly red with embarrassment. "Not now, please. I'm looking for someone -"

"Surrounded by girls as usual, ne, Kyo-chan?" Skuld heard someone say.

A girl of about Kyosuke's age stood a few feet away, looking at them amusedly. With her coveralls covered with grease instead of dirt, she reminded Skuld of herself and her sisters after a hard day's work at the pit stop during one of Keiichi's races . . .

"Ah, Yu-kun! Good timing!" Kyosuke said, relief evident in his voice. "Help me out here!"

Giggling, the girl approached them, clapping her hands. "Okay, people, break it up! We still have work to do!" she said.

Slightly disappointed, the girls gathered around them cleared aside. Kyosuke grinned at his friend as he and Skuld walked towards her. "Thanks, Yu-kun!"

"No problem, Kyo-chan. That was your gift for winning second place," the young woman teasingly told him.

Skuld was beginning to feel drastically out of place. She wasn't part of the crowd, she -definitely- wasn't a member of Kyosuke's fan club, and she certainly was not familiar enough with her companion and his friend to boldly ask them if she could wander around and look for Sentaro alone while they chatted. / _I wish Belldandy onee-sama came with us_/ she thought, frowning.

"Ne, who's your new friend?" Skuld heard the girl ask, interrupting Kyosuke while he had been in the middle of relaying the details of his race.

The young goddess looked at the newcomer. The girl - a mechanic, judging from the way she looked - was quite attractive, despite the grease marks on her face. She leaned towards Skuld, her long. light brown hair tied in a ponytail following her movements, her green eyes sparkling as she gazed at their visitor.

"Whoops! I almost forgot! Where's Sentaro?" Kyosuke inquired.

"He's inside the tent, hiding from his own set of fans. What's your name?" the girl asked her friend's companion.

Skuld held her head high - there was something about the look on this girl's face that told her she thought the young goddess was just a child. "My name is Skuld," she answered.

"Mine is Ayahisa Yui," the girl said, grinning. "It's a huge pleasure to meet you!"

"Y-yeah. You too," Skuld told her as she bowed in respect.

"You're the one looking for Sentaro-kun, right?" Yui asked as she began to lead both Kyosuke and Skuld towards one of the tents that had been set up for the race.

Skuld nodded. "His mother said that he was here."

Kyosuke chuckled. "Yeah, well . . . he's still pretty obsessed with his BMX, but that doesn't mean he's not interested in motorcycles!"

Skuld inwardly smiled. It was a relief to hear that Sentaro still liked bicycles.

"In fact he has this old bike that he had already outgrown, and yet he still refuses to dump it or give it away!" her male companion continued. "He could actually still sell it, you know. It's in good condition despite all those scratches, and I'll bet he could still make a bundle out of it. I've tried to talk to him about it a few times, but he wouldn't listen-"

"Really now, Kyo-chan! He won a lot of races with that bike! It'll be difficult to part with something like that!" Yui argued lightly.

Kyosuke rolled his eyes. "You've told me that so many times, it's not too difficult to imagine that if only his cabinet was big enough, it would have been displayed along with all those trophies!"

Skuld found herself grinning at Kyosuke's words. She had a feeling she knew the bike he was talking about.

Once they entered the tent that Yui had led them to, Kyosuke was instantly surrounded by friends and teammates who congratulated him and encouraged him to do better next time.

But Skuld barely noticed them.

For her eyes met with those that once belonged to a young boy on his way to his teens.

And time stopped.

Japanese words used:  
'des' - a variant of "desu", a verb signifying positive present existence  
konnichiwa - hello/good afternoon  
moshi-moshi - hello (used when answering the phone)  
onee-sama - older sister


End file.
